Patterns of evolution and multidimensional systematics in graylings (Lepidoptera: Hipparchia)

In the western Palaearctic, the Mediterranean zone is an important region where taxa and genes of thermophilous organisms are preserved during glacial stages and new clades are generated. This is achieved through the existence of refugia over Mediterranean Europe and North Africa, where organisms persisted and continued to evolve during the cold phases. However, it is not clear in detail how these refugia function for the maintenance of ancestral taxa, the evolution of new taxa, and as launching pads during postglacial colonizations of northern Europe. One outstanding issue is the incongruence of findings from different marker systems. For the butterfly Maniola jurtina, morphometry and allozyme data analyzed for populations scattered over Europe and North Africa show congruent patterns for Sicily and the Maghreb but produce discrepant results for the Italian mainland. This discrepancy between allozyme and morphological data can be explained by recent gene flow in the wake of postglacial range expansions and shifts. It is evident that colonization histories are far more complex than originally considered. We highlight different aspects of colonization and evolutionary history emerging from the joint use of different marker systems and advocate multiple uses of different markers in paleobiogeographic reconstructions to explore evolutionary events and colonization pathways.

Section: The Enigmatic M Jurtinamentioning

confidence: 98%

The biogeography of the western Mediterranean: elucidating contradictory distribution patterns of differentiation in Maniola jurtina (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae)

Dapporto

Habel

Dennis

et al. 2011

“…However, colour and pattern variation, including polymorphism, is quite common in butterflies, and its taxonomic value has been severely disputed, as it may, at least in part, result from phenotypic plasticity (Napolitano, Descimon & Vesco, 1990; Brakefield & Gates, 1996; Rivoire, 1998). In fact, discordant results from wing pattern descriptors and molecular markers suggest that the first might be subjected to different evolutionary trajectories and rates, because of their particular adaptive significance, and might not represent reliable tracers of evolutionary relationships (Cesaroni et al ., 1994; Lukhtanov et al ., 2005).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Phylogeography of Parnassius apollo: hints on taxonomy and conservation of a vulnerable glacial butterfly invader

Todisco

Gratton

Cesaroni

et al. 2010

Self Cite

Parnassius apollo (Linnaeus, 1758) is probably the most renowned Eurasian montane butterfly. Its specialized ecology makes it very sensitive to habitat and climate changes, so that it is now experiencing range contraction and local extinction across most of its range. We sequenced 869 bp of the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) cytochrome oxidase I gene in 78 P. apollo populations (201 individuals) in order to: (1) assess the phylogeographic pattern of the species; (2) shed light on the historical biogeographic processes that shaped the distribution of the species; and (3) identify geographic population units of special value for the conservation of the species' genetic diversity. Our analyses revealed a very strong phylogeographic structure in P. apollo, which displays a number of distinctive mtDNA lineages populating geographically distinct areas. Overall sequence divergence is relatively shallow, and is consistent with a recent (late Pleistocene) colonization of most of the range. We propose that P. apollo is best viewed as an atypical glacial invader in southern and western Europe, the isolated, montane populations of which, threatened by climate warming, retain a large fraction of the species evolutionary heritage. © 2010 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2010, 101, 169–183

“…Finally, when extensive phylogeographic and systematic studies on individual species have been carried out, they reasonably focused on a single species or on a small set of sister taxa (Cesaroni et al ., 1994; Grill et al ., 2007; Dapporto, 2008; Kodandaramaiah & Wahlberg, 2009). A lack of comprehensive studies prevented the identification of colonization routes shared by several Sardinia and Corsica butterfly species.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Satyrinae butterflies from Sardinia and Corsica show a kaleidoscopic intraspecific biogeography (Lepidoptera, Nymphlidae)

Dapporto¹

2010

The Mediterranean islands of Sardinia and Corsica are known for their multitude of endemics. Butterflies in particular have received much attention. However, no comprehensive studies aiming to compare populations of butterflies from Sardinia and Corsica with those from the neighbouring mainland and Sicily have been carried out. In the present study, the eleven Satyrinae species inhabiting Sardinia and Corsica islands were examined and compared with continental and Sicilian populations by means of geometric morphometrics of male genitalia. Relative warp computation, discriminant analyses, hierarchical clustering, and cross-validation tests were used to identify coherent distributional patterns including both islands and mainland populations. The eleven species showed multifaceted distributional patterns, although three main conclusions can be drawn: (1) populations from North Africa and Spain are generally different from those belonging to the Italian Peninsula; (2) populations from Sardinia and Sicily often resemble the North Africa/Spain ones; Corsica shows transitional populations similar to those from France; and (3) sea barriers represent filters to dispersal, although their efficacy appears to be unrelated to their extension. Indeed, the short sea straits between Sardinia and Corsica and between Sicily and the Italian Peninsula revealed a strong effectiveness with respect to preventing faunal exchanges; populations giving onto sea channels between Corsica and Northern Italy and between Sicily and Tunisia showed a higher similarity. A comparison of island and mainland distributions of the eleven taxa have helped to unravel the complex co-occurrence of historical factors, refugial dynamics, and recent (post-glacial) dispersal with respect to shaping the populations of Mediterranean island butterflies.