| 1. |
- Avgin, Sakine Serap, et al.
(författare)
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Review of the cedar and oak forest-associated Epuraea latipes species group (Coleoptera: Nitidulidae, Epuraeinae), with description of a new species from southern Turkey
- 2012
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Ingår i: Entomologica Fennica. - : Entomologica Fennica. - 0785-8760. ; 23:2, s. 49-62
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A new species of Epuraea, Epuraea sutcuimamun Avgin, Lason andamp; Audisio sp. n., from southern Turkey (Taurus Chain) was identified using morphological analyses. This species is a member of a circum-Mediterranean endemic group of sap beetles, the Epuraea latipes species group of the Dadopora lineage, which are mostly associated with cedar (Cedrus spp.) forests. Herein, the new species is described, the previously unknown association of the little-known Epuraea subparallela Grouvelle 1896 with meso-xerophilous oaks is reported, and some new records from southern Turkey (Taurus Chain) are listed for the latter species (previously only known from the Nur Mts. in SE Turkey, Osmaniye and Iskenderun provinces). An identification key to species of Dadopora lineage is also provided. Finally, the main palaeogeographic events affecting the Miocene to Holocene dispersal and evolution of species/populations of the Dadopora lineage on cedars and oaks, and the coincident distributional dynamics of Western Palaearctic Cedrus populations throughout the Mediterranean Basin, are discussed.
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| 2. |
- Caputo, Beniamino, et al.
(författare)
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The "Far-West'' of Anopheles gambiae Molecular Forms
- 2011
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Ingår i: PLoS ONE. - : Public Library of Science (PLoS). - 1932-6203. ; 6:2, s. e16415-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The main Afrotropical malaria vector, Anopheles gambiae sensu stricto, is undergoing a process of sympatric ecological diversification leading to at least two incipient species (the M and S molecular forms) showing heterogeneous levels of divergence across the genome. The physically unlinked centromeric regions on all three chromosomes of these closely related taxa contain fixed nucleotide differences which have been found in nearly complete linkage disequilibrium in geographic areas of no or low M-S hybridization. Assays diagnostic for SNP and structural differences between M and S forms in the three centromeric regions were applied in samples from the western extreme of their range of sympatry, the only area where high frequencies of putative M/S hybrids have been reported. The results reveal a level of admixture not observed in the rest of the range. In particular, we found: i) heterozygous genotypes at each marker, although at frequencies lower than expected under panmixia; ii) virtually all possible genotypic combinations between markers on different chromosomes, although genetic association was nevertheless detected; iii) discordant M and S genotypes at two X-linked markers near the centromere, suggestive of introgression and inter-locus recombination. These results could be indicative either of a secondary contact zone between M and S, or of the maintenance of ancestral polymorphisms. This issue and the perspectives opened by these results in the study of the M and S incipient speciation process are discussed.
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| 3. |
- Zauli, Agnese, et al.
(författare)
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Assessing the taxonomic status of Osmoderma cristinae (Coleoptera : Scarabaeidae), endemic to Sicily, by genetic, morphological and pheromonal analyses
- 2016
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Ingår i: Journal of Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research. - : Hindawi Limited. - 0947-5745 .- 1439-0469. ; 54:3, s. 506-514
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Resolving complexes of closely related and cryptic insect species can be challenging, especially when dealing with rare and protected taxa that are difficult to collect for genetic and morphological analyses. Until recently, populations of the genus Osmoderma (Scarabaeidae), widespread in Europe, were treated as a single species O. eremita (Scopoli, 1763) in spite of observed geographic variation in morphology. A previous survey using sequence data from the mtDNA cytochrome C oxidase I gene (COI) revealed the occurrence of at least two distinct lineages within this species complex: O. eremita in the west and O. barnabita Motschulsky, 1845, in the east. Interestingly, beetles confined to Sicily have been described as a distinct species, O. cristinae Sparacio, 1994, based on morphological traits. Only few Sicilian specimens were included in the former genetic analysis, and the results led to a still questionable taxonomic rank for these populations. To explore the robustness of the previous taxonomic arrangement for O. cristinae, a combination of genetic, morphological and pheromonal analyses was used. A 617-bp fragment of the COI gene, aligned with O. cristinae and O. eremita sequences already available in GenBank, showed a clear genetic divergence between the two species (interspecific mean distance = 6.6%). Moreover, results from AFLP markers sustained the distinction of the two species. In addition, geometric morphometric analyses of the shape of male genitalia revealed a clear differentiation between the two species. Via scent analysis and field trapping, we demonstrated the production of the sex pheromone (R)-(+)-γ-decalactone by males of O. cristinae, the attraction by conspecific individuals (mostly females) to this compound, and a lack of antagonistic effect of (S)-(-)-γ-decalactone. The fact that O. eremita and O. eremita use the same compound for mate finding suggests that this sex pheromone has not undergone a differentiation and probably the allopatry of these two species compensates for the absence of a mechanism to avoid cross-attraction. Our genetic and morphological data support the divergence of the two species and confirm the species status for O. cristinae, while sex pheromones are confirmed to be invariant among different species of the genus Osmoderma.
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