A Global Population Genetic Study of Pantala flavescens

Abstract

Among terrestrial arthropods, the dragonfly species Pantala flavescens is remarkable due to their nearly global distribution and extensive migratory ranges; the largest of any known insect. Capable of migrating across oceans, the potential for high rates of gene flow among geographically distant populations is significant. It has been hypothesized that P. flavescens may be a global panmictic population but no sufficient genetic evidence has been collected thus far. Through a population genetic analysis of P. flavescens samples from North America, South America, and Asia, the current study aimed to examine the extent at which gene flow is occurring on a global scale and discusses the implications of the genetic patterns we uncovered on population structure and genetic diversity of the species. This was accomplished using PCR-amplified cytochrome oxidase one (CO1) mitochondrial DNA data to reconstruct phylogenetic trees, a haplotype network, and perform molecular variance analyses. Our results suggested high rates of gene flow are occurring among all included geographic regions; providing the first significant evidence that Pantala flavescens should be considered a global panmictic population.

Population genetic structure and intraspecific genetic distance of Periplaneta americana (Blattodea: Blattidae) based on mitochondrial and nuclear DNA markers

“…Intraspecific phylogeny and haplotype networks all indicated the presence of very little genetic structure in P. americana (Figures and ). This result was in agreement with what was expected in the German cockroach ( Blattella germanica ; Vargo et al, ) and suggested that P. americana should be considered a global panmictic population (Troast, Suhling, Jinguji, Sahlén, & Ware, ). As one of the most widespread invasive insects, lack of population genetic structure of P. americana was likely due to a high reproductive rate and the human‐mediated range expansion of P. americana (Gonçalves et al, ; Vargo et al, ).…”

Wing morphology and migration status, but not body size, habitat or Rapoport's rule predict range size in North‐American dragonflies (Odonata: Libellulidae)

“…Dragonflies show astonishingly skilful flight and many species are migratory (Corbet 1999, Wootton andNewman 2008). In fact, the libellulid Pantala flavescens has the record for the longest known migration in insects (Troast et al 2016). Dragonflies are also a well-studied group with much available data, including geographic distribution (e.g.…”

Preliminary dragonfly (Odonata) species list from the Pampa biome in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, with ecological notes for 19 new records for the State

“…Libellulidae was the dominant family (56,1%, N = 46) followed by Coenagrionidae (24,5%, 20) and, Aeshnidae (7,3%, 6), as shown in Table 2. The richest genus was Erythrodiplax, represented by eight species, this genus was also the most abundant in all seasons, occurring in virtually all sampling sites along with Pantala flavescens Fabricius, 1798, a known migratory and widely distributed disperser (Troast et al 2016). Some species occurred only once (uniques) in this study and were considered regionally rare, for example: Minagrion waltheri Selys, 1876, Brechmorhoga nubecula Rambur, 1842, Macrothemis lutea Calvert, 1909 and Dasythemis venosa Burmeister, 1839.…”