EFFECT OF THE PANTANAL’S FLOODING HISTORY IN MORPHOMETRIC ASPECTS OF THE SOLITARY PARASITOID Campsomeris dorsata (HYMENOPTERA: SCOLIIDAE)

Abstract

The shape of an organism and the variation between related groups lie at the core of understanding evolution and interactions between phenotypes, genotypes, and environmental spaces. Due to the relief conditions and hydrological profile of the region, the areas inside the Pantanal have different flood histories in respect to the flood duration and the amount of water retained in the plain. The objective of this work was to evaluate the effect of the environmental flooding gradient on the geometric morphometry variation of Campsomeris dorsata (Hymenoptera: Scoliidae) wings in Pantanal, to understand if the variations in spatial distribution related to the flooding history interferes in the morphology of the wings by identifying where, how, and to what magnitude such changes occur. The wings were mounted between blade and coverslip, labeled, and prepared for morphometric measurements. The points of intersection of wing veins (landmarks) were determined using a stereoscopic microscope coupled with a camera. The linear measurements of the landmarks were transformed using Procrustes to remove the size effect, leaving only the shape of the wings. The transformed data was evaluated using PCA and MANOVA to identify if there were differences in relation to the geographical location of occurrence. Thirty-three male C. dorsata wings were measured, and there was a clear separation between 3 distinct wing form groups along the Pantanal distribution. The variation in wing shape could be associated with selection from local environmental conditions in areas with distinct flooding histories, influencing migratory aspects among populations within the Brazilian Pantanal. The data for this small species, that has low dispersal capacity, is solitary, and presents an intimate relationship with soil characteristics, which directly reflects flooding aspects in the Pantanal, only reinforces the need to conserve more areas in the Brazilian Pantanal, since genetic diversity is an important factor for conservation.