The genus Pseudomegischus van Achterberg, 2002, is newly reported from China. A new species, Pseudomegischus
notiochinensis
sp. n., is described and illustrated from southern China. A key to the species of Pseudomegischus is included.
The Quaternary climatic oscillations are expected to have had strong impacts on the evolution of species. Although legacies of the Quaternary climates on population processes have been widely identified in diverse groups of species, adaptive genetic changes shaped during the Quaternary have been harder to decipher. Here, we assembled a chromosome-level genome of the oriental fruit moth and compared genomic variation among refugial and colonized populations of this species that diverged in the Pleistocene. High genomic diversity was maintained in refugial populations. Demographic analysis showed that the effective population size of refugial populations declined during the penultimate glacial maximum (PGM) but remained stable during the last glacial maximum (LGM), indicating a strong impact of the PGM rather than the LGM on this pest species. Genome scans identified one chromosomal inversion and a mutation of the circadian gene Clk on the neo-Z chromosome potentially related to the endemicity of a refugial population. In the colonized populations, genes in pathways of energy metabolism and wing development showed signatures of selection. These different genomic signatures of refugial and colonized populations point to multiple impacts of Quaternary climates on adaptation in an extant species.
Genetic comparisons of parasitoids and their hosts are expected to reflect ecological and evolutionary processes that influence the interactions between species. The parasitoid wasp, Cotesia vestalis, and its host diamondback moth (DBM), Plutella xylostella, provide opportunities to test whether the specialist natural enemy migrates seasonally with its host or occurs as resident population. We genotyped 17 microsatellite loci and two mitochondrial genes for 158 female adults of C. vestalis collected from 12 geographical populations, as well as nine microsatellite loci for 127 DBM larvae from six separate sites. The samplings covered both the likely source (southern) and immigrant (northern) areas of DBM from China. Populations of C. vestalis fell into three groups, pointing to isolation in northwestern and southwestern China and strong genetic differentiation of these populations from others in central and eastern China. In contrast, DBM showed much weaker genetic differentiation and high rates of gene flow. TESS analysis identified the immigrant populations of DBM as showing admixture in northern China. Genetic disconnect between C. vestalis and its host suggests that the parasitoid did not migrate yearly with its host but likely consisted of resident populations in places where its host could not survive in winter.
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