The phylogeographical structure of the temperate shrub Rosa pendulina at 45 locations in Europe was studied using sequencing of a non-coding cpDNA region (trnL-trnF). Our study revealed a clear geographic structure of cpDNA haplotypes. Three main haplotypes were geographically widespread, but showed little overlap in their distributions, suggesting that postglacial expansion occurred from at least two distinct glacial refugia, probably located (1) at the edge of the Alps, N Apennines or Dinaric Alps, and (2) in the Balkan Peninsula or S Carpathians. All populations at locations in the Czech Republic and surrounding regions are of Carpathian origin. This finding disproved an Alpine origin of R. pendulina populations in the Šumava Mts (Czech Republic). A contact zone between Carpathian and Alpine migration routes of R. pendulina is probably located in the Danube valley.
Tomicus piniperda is a pest in pine stands in Eurasia and is also found in the USA, where it has caused a decline in the abundance of pine since 1992. Knowledge of the genetic structure of pine shoot beetle populations is important for understanding their phylogeographic history and for quarantine control. In this study, European, Asian and American T. piniperda populations were analyzed by sequencing a region of the mitochondrial COI gene. Twenty-five haplotypes (HT) were detected and over 70% of these HT were found in individual areas, e.g. 5 HT in China, 5 HT in France and 3 HT in Spain. Nested clade analysis revealed that most European and the American population was in a clade containing 9 HT connected by one to two mutational steps. A second clade contained HT from France (2 HT), Spain (2 HT), Sweden (1 HT), Russia (1 HT) and China (5 HT). In this clade, one to 13 mutational steps and 13 missing or theoretical HT were detected. The third clade had 5 HT from France, Russia, Poland, Finland and Switzerland; 1 to 7 mutational steps and 5 missing or theoretical HT were detected. Although only a few significant relationships were found in the nested clade analysis, the following conclusions can be drawn: (1) T. piniperda is a polymorphic species with numerous HT throughout Europe, and HT are likely to exist regarding the missing or theoretical HT; (2) It is likely there were refugial areas in Southern Europe and Western Russia; (3) The Pyrenees formed a barrier to migration after the last ice age; (4) Chinese and European populations have been separated for at least 0.6 MYA.
Polygraphus grandiclava (Thomson, 1886) is a unique scolytid species in that it infests both Pinaceae and Rosaceae. The utilization of such different host trees lead to the designation of two species at the beginning of the last century. Later on, these two species were synonymised. Here we investigated the genetic identity of populations collected from pine and cherry trees by sequencing a partial region of the mitochondrial COI gene. The phylogenetic study presented reveals no indication of host-induced differentiation within the mitochondrial sequences of the populations collected from the two host plants.
The effects of climate fluctuations on seasonally dry forests and their fauna are important to a holistic understanding of diversification in the South American lowlands. We document the intraspecific genetic structure of the burnished-buff tanager (Tangara cayana), a species common in seasonally dry tropical forests throughout South America. Using both mitochondrial sequence and nuclear microsatellite markers, we present an intraspecific phylogeny, haplotype network, and a STRUCTURE analysis. We also develop environmental niche models and project them onto two alternate paleoclimate models of the Last Glacial Maximum and mid-Holocene. Paleoclimate projections indicate a much greater extent and connectivity of suitable T. cayana habitat during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), decreasing through the mid-Holocene toward the present. Both microsatellite and mtDNA sequence data are consistent with a clockwise route of colonization for the current circum-Amazonian distribution of T. cayana. The species likely originated in the Cerrado of Brazil and expanded westward through Bolivia, across the seasonally dry forests at the base of the Andes, and into Guyana and northern Brazil. Northeastern populations then expanded south into coastal Pernambuco, Brazil completing the current ring-like distribution of this species.
We report results of a faunal survey of Aradidae flat bugs sampled by sifting litter in 14 wet and discrete Tanzanian primary forests (= Tanzanian Forest Archipelago, TFA) of different geological origins and ages. Images, locality data and, when available, DNA barcoding sequences of 300 Aradidae adults and nymphs forming the core of the herein analyzed data are publicly available online at dx.doi.org/10.5883/DS-ARADTZ. Three Aradidae subfamilies and seven genera were recorded: Aneurinae (Paraneurus), Carventinae (Dundocoris) and Mezirinae (Afropictinus, Embuana, Linnavuoriessa, Neochelonoderus, Usumbaraia); the two latter subfamilies were also represented by specimens not assignable to nominal genera. Barring the six nominal species of Neochelonoderus and Afropictinus described earlier by us from these samples and representing 11 of the herein defined Operational Taxonomic Units (OTU), only one of the remaining 52 OTUs could be assigned to a named species; the remaining 51 OTUs (81%) represent unnamed species. Average diversity of Aradidae is 4.64 species per locality; diversity on the three geologically young volcanoes (Mts Hanang, Meru, Kilimanjaro) is significantly lower (1.33) than on the nine Eastern Arc Mountains (5.67) and in two lowland forests (5). Observed phylogeographic structure of Aradidae in TFA can be attributed to vicariance, while the depauperate fauna of Aradidae on geologically young Tanzanian volcanoes was likely formed anew by colonisation from nearby and geologically older forests., Vasily V. Grebennikov, Ernst Heiss., and Obsahuje bibliografii
The existing literature, museum records, personal reports of field biologists and our own field results were compiled to assess the present distribution of the common hamster within Transylvania and the Pannonian Plain of Romania. Combining available distribution data and the existence of natural barriers we were able to designate five, possibly separate, populations: the Pannonian Plain, the Transylvanian Plateau, the Olt Valley, the Braşov Depression and the Ciuc Depression population. The Pannonian Plain and
the Transylvanian Plateau populations showed mass outbreaks in recent years. Twenty three individuals were available for the genetic analyses. The populations belonged to the Pannonia lineage, based on the sequences of 16SrRNA, cytb and ctr of mtDNA. In general we found very high diversity in mtDNA and 16 microsatellite loci. Moreover the most common ctr haplotypes for the Transylvanian Plateau were also present in the Pannonian Plain population and in populations from Hungary and Slovakia, which indicates recent or even current exchange of individuals. Summing up, recent mass outbreaks and high levels of genetic diversity, with some indication of current or very recent gene flow, showed that Romanian populations are in good state, at least compared to many other European countries. As such, these populations should be of particular interest and placed under protection, as they could serve as the reservoir of the genetic variability for the European Pannonia lineage of the common hamster.
We investigated variation in the Melampyrum sylvaticum group in the Carpathian and Hercynian regions using morphological and molecular tools. The aim of our study was to examine differences in the pattern of variation between the Eastern Carpathians and region of theWestern Carpathians and the Hercynian Massif. We also tested correlations between putatively taxonomically important variation in corolla colour present in the Melampyrum sylvaticum group in the Eastern Carpathian region and other morphological and molecular traits. Samples were collected from populations of the M. sylvaticum group in the Hercynian Massif and the Eastern and Western Carpathians. Morphometric analyses of the size and shape of the corolla (based on thin plate spline with sliding semilandmarks), length of the anthers and especially molecular analyses based on sequencing the nuclear ITS and trnL-trnT regions of chloroplast DNA, confirmed that the populations occurring on the opposite sides of the Eastern-Western Carpathian biogeographic boundary are very different. It is likely that the eastern and western lineages have been isolated for a long time and the extant pattern of variation with character disagreement within the border zone, originated from hybridization and introgression. The differences in corolla colour did not coincide with the variation in morphological traits or molecular markers within the North-Eastern Carpathian region. In addition, the geographical distribution of the populations with contrasting corolla colours lacked any pattern and there are populations with both corolla colours as well as plants with transitional pale-yellow flowers. Therefore, it is suggested that M. saxosum and M. herbichii, microspecies delimited on the basis of corolla colour, are conspecific. The high level of molecular variation and its pattern indicate that the M. sylvaticum group may have survived in or near the Eastern Carpathians during the Weichselian Ice Age. This hypothesis is supported by several recent phytogeographical and palaeoecological studies, which indicate the existence of a glacial refuge in the Eastern Carpathian region. Molecular uniformity of theWestern Carpathian and Hercynian populations might in contrast indicate recent (Holocene) migration from assumed perialpine refuges.