The present study examines the phylogeography of Pholidopterini (Orthoptera, Tettigoniidae), a lineage distributed in the East Mediterranean and estimated substitution rates for the three mitochondrial and two nuclear gene segments. The last common ancestor of Pholidopterini was dated to 18 myr ago, in Early Miocene. Phylogeography of the lineage was marked with three waves of radiations, first during the Middle Miocene Climatic Optimum, the second during the Serravallian, and third during the ending of Messinian. The substitution rate estimations were 0.0187/0.018/0.0141/0.0010207 s/s/myr for COI/ND2/12S-tRNAval-6S/ITS1-5.8S rRNA-ITS2. The following main conclusions were drawn; (i) Radiation of Pholidopterini directed by the climatic shifts, (ii) signs of vicariant speciation were poor, contrary to the active tectonic history, (iii) the ultimate generic ancestors were dated to the Langhian and Serravallian, and (vi) the Tortonian transgression of Mid-Aegean Trench appears to be a reliable geographic calibration point for lineage splitting between Crete and Anatolia.
This study aims to rectify the taxonomy of Pholidopterini (Orthoptera, Tettigoniidae, Tettigoniinae) using a phylogenetic approach. To this end, DNA sequences of three mitochondrial and two nuclear genes were produced and analysed. Reconstructed phylogenetic trees were consistent with the limits of the tribe and internal generic clades. However, the relationship among genera could not be resolved. Based on these trees and previous publications, we draw the following conclusions. Pholidopterini is monophyletic and consists of nine internal clades corresponding to generic level taxa. Pholidoptera, Eupholidoptera, Parapholidoptera, Apholidoptera, Uvarovistia and Exopholidoptera were previously given in the tribe, and Psorodonotus is transferred from Platycleidini. Aparapholidoptera Çıplak gen. n. and Spinopholidoptera Çıplak gen.n. are two new genera in the tribe. Additionally, the macro‐evolutionary pattern of the tribe was evaluated by correlating the tempo of radiation and the homology/homoplasy status of morphological characters used in generic descriptions/diagnoses. Results indicated that rapid radiation periods prior to achievement of lineage monophyly may leave their signature as instability or polytomy in present phylogenetic reconstruction, and cause the evolution of homoplasic characters and reticulate character sharing among the units in a lineage. This pattern may explain why genera in the Pholidopterini are definable by non‐unique character combinations.
ITS2 is often suggested as a potential marker for evolutionary studies and species barcoding. However, there are many lineages have not been studied. This study focuses on ITS2 in Polyneoptera at the order and species levels. ITS2 sequences representing six polyneopteran orders and 15 species in the genus Anterastes are studied. We arrived at the following conclusions: (i) ITS2 is highly variable and contains little phylogenetic information in Polyneoptera, (ii) the shortest length and the highest GC content of ITS2 is found in Orthoptera among insects, (iii) the secondary structure exhibits general characteristics of eukaryotes especially in helices II and III, and with no order-specific architecture, (iv) ITS2 is highly conserved at the species level, both in linear sequences and secondary structures, (v) helices I, IA, II, IIA and III almost invariable in nucleotide sequence shared by all species in the genus. At the generic level, the most conspicuous result is the variable pattern in ITS2. It is highly conserved in helical sequences, but highly variable in non/peri-helical regions which we considered to be mutation islands. These frequently mutated regions contain a significant amount of molecular homoplasy, thus, the utility of ITS2 in phylogenetic analyses and species barcoding is low, at least in Polyneoptera.
After a recent revision of the tribe Pholidopterini, the generic status of Apholidoptera becomes questionable and requires to be clarified by determining its phylogenetic position. The present study aims to obtain a phylogenetic tree using published DNA sequence data of Pholidopterini and representative sequences from Apholidoptera kurda, the only species of the genus. Phylogenetic analyses applied to the dataset, including three mitochondrial and one nuclear gene segments, suggested the Apholidoptera kurda within the clade constituting the most basal branch of Pholidopterini, containing five species of Aparapholidoptera. This clade consists of two sister subclades; the first consists of Apholidoptera kurda plus Aparapholidoptera pietschmanni, and the second species in the Aparapholidoptera distincta group. Two subclades share the last common ancestor about 12 million years ago, indicating a deep phylogenetic splitting. Further, both subclades are distinguishable by prominent morphological differences. Considering the ultimate ancestral ages of the con-tribal other genera and phenotypic disparity, we proposed each as a separate genus. This statement confirms the generic status of Apholidoptera with species content of the original description and requires retransferring Aparapholidoptera pietschmanni to Apholidoptera. This nomenclatural change also limits Aparapholidoptera with four species previously given in the Aparapholidoptera distincta group.
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