Introduction to the World of Carabus

Sota, Teiji

doi:10.1007/978-981-16-6699-5_1

Cited by 1 publication

(2 citation statements)

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“…Morphological diversification of snail-feeding ground beetles of the genus Carabus (Carabidae: subfamily Carabinae) is an emerging model system used to investigate adaptive radiation in beetles. Snail-feeding carabid beetles evolved from ancestral carabid beetles feeding on insect larvae or earthworms and account for half of the diverse array of approximately 1,000 species in the genus Carabus ( Sota 2022 ; Fig. 1a ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“… Adaptive radiation of snail-feeding Carabus beetles. a) Phylogenetic groups, species numbers, and diet types of the genus Carabus and representative species with phylogenetic relationships of the major snail-feeding group Neocarabi, based on previous reports ( Deuve 2019 ; Sota 2022 ; Sota et al 2022 ). b to g) Snail-feeding behavior of slender- (b to d) and stout-type (e to g) beetles in the Neocarabi group.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Odd-Paired is Involved in Morphological Divergence of Snail-Feeding Beetles

Konuma,

Fujisawa,

Nishiyama

et al. 2024

Molecular Biology and Evolution

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Body shape and size diversity and their evolutionary rates correlate with species richness at the macroevolutionary scale. However, the molecular genetic mechanisms underlying the morphological diversification across related species are poorly understood. In beetles, which account for one-fourth of the known species, adaptation to different trophic niches through morphological diversification appears to have contributed to species radiation. Here, we explored the key genes for the morphological divergence of the slender to stout body shape related to divergent feeding methods on large to small snails within the genus Carabus. We show that the zinc-finger transcription factor encoded by odd-paired (opa) controls morphological variation in the snail-feeding ground beetle Carabus blaptoides. Specifically, opa was identified as the gene underlying the slender to stout morphological difference between subspecies through genetic mapping and functional analysis via gene knockdown. Further analyses revealed that changes in opa cis-regulatory sequences likely contributed to the differences in body shape and size between C. blaptoides subspecies. Among opa cis-regulatory sequences, single nucleotide polymorphisms on the transcription factor binding sites may be associated with the morphological differences between C. blaptoides subspecies. opa was highly conserved in a wide range of taxa, especially in beetles. Therefore, opa may play an important role in adaptive morphological divergence in beetles.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%