Pleistocene phylogeography of tiger beetle, Calomera littoralis, in North-Eastern Mediterranean and Pontic regions inferred from mitochondrial COI gene sequence
- Published
- Accepted
- Subject Areas
- Biodiversity, Biogeography, Entomology, Environmental Sciences, Taxonomy
- Keywords
- Coleoptera, Cicindelidae, ice age, interglacial, sea level changes, population expansion, southern Europe
- Copyright
- © 2016 Jaskuła et al.
- Licence
- This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, reproduction and adaptation in any medium and for any purpose provided that it is properly attributed. For attribution, the original author(s), title, publication source (PeerJ Preprints) and either DOI or URL of the article must be cited.
- Cite this article
- 2016. Pleistocene phylogeography of tiger beetle, Calomera littoralis, in North-Eastern Mediterranean and Pontic regions inferred from mitochondrial COI gene sequence. PeerJ Preprints 4:e2010v1 https://doi.org/10.7287/peerj.preprints.2010v1
Abstract
Background. Calomera littoralis is a Palearctic species, widely distributed in Europe; inhabiting predominantly its Atlantic, Mediterranean and Black Sea coastlines. Methods. Its phylogeography on the Balkan Peninsula and on the north-western Black Sea coast was inferred using a 697 bp long portion of the mitochondrial COI gene, amplified from 169 individuals collected on 43 localities. Results. The results revealed two genetically divergent groups/lineages, the southern one inhabiting both the Balkan Peninsula and the Pontic Region and the northern one found exclusively in the Pontic Region. Species delimitation based on DNA barcoding gap suggested an interspecific level of divergence between these groups. Multivariate analysis of eight male and female morphometric traits detected no difference between the groups, implying they may represent cryptic species. The Bayesian time-calibrated reconstruction of phylogeny suggested that the lineages diverged ca. 2.3 Ma, in early Pleistocene. Discussion. This might result from contemporary isolation of the Pontic basin from the Mediterranean that broke the continuous strip of coastal habitats inhabited by C. littoralis. Demographic analyses indicated that both lineages have been in demographic and spatial expansion since ca. 0.15 Ma. It coincides with the terminal stage of MIS-6, i.e. Wartanian/Saalian glaciation, and beginning of MIS-5e, i.e. Eemian interglacial, during which, due to eustatic sea level rise, a wide connection between Mediterranean and the Pontic basin was re-established. This, along with re-appearance of coastal habitats could initiate north-east expansion of the southern lineage and its secondary contact with the northern one. Isolation of Pontic basin from Mediterranean during the Weichselian glaciation did not have probably any effect on their phylogeography.
Author Comment
This is a submission to PeerJ for review.
Supplemental Information
List of sampling localities of Calomera littoralis
Collection site codes (Abbr.), additional information’s (country, geographical coordinates), distinct operational taxonomic units (OTU ABDG), number of specimens used in molecular and morphological analyses (N), COI haplotypes, as well as GenBank accession numbers (Acc. nos. COI), SL – Southern lineage, NL – Northern lineage.