Relationships among pest flour beetles of the genus Tribolium (Tenebrionidae) inferred from multiple molecular markers

Abstract

Model species often provide initial hypotheses and tools for studies of development, genetics, and molecular evolution in closely related species. Flour beetles of the genus Tribolium MacLeay (1825) are one group with potential for such comparative studies. Tribolium castaneum (Herbst 1797) is an increasingly useful developmental genetic system. The convenience with which congeneric and other species of tenebrionid flour beetles can be reared in the laboratory makes this group attractive for comparative studies on a small phylogenetic scale. Here we present the results of phylogenetic analyses of relationships among the major pest species of Tribolium based on two mitochondrial and three nuclear markers (cytochrome oxidase 1, 16S ribosomal DNA, wingless, 28S ribosomal DNA, histone H3). The utility of partitioning the dataset in a manner informed by biological structure and function is demonstrated by comparing various partitioning strategies. In parsimony and partitioned Bayesian analyses of the combined dataset, the castaneum and confusum species groups are supported as monophyletic and as each other's closest relatives. However, a sister group relationship between this clade and Tribolium brevicornis (Leconte 1859) is not supported. Therefore, we suggest transferring brevicornis group species to the genus Aphanotus Leconte (1862). The inferred phylogeny provides an evolutionary framework for comparative studies using flour beetles.

Hox genes require homothorax and extradenticle for body wall identity specification but not for appendage identity specification during metamorphosis of Tribolium castaneum

“…Beetles were cultured at 32 1C on a diet of equal parts wheat and white flour at a ratio of 1 part nutritional yeast to 19 parts flour (Sokoloff, 1972). We reared Tribolium brevicornis, a closely related species (Angelini and Jockusch, 2008), following the same procedure. We investigated this species to further illuminate the functions of hth and exd in flour beetles.…”

Molecular phylogeny of bark and ambrosia beetles (Curculionidae: Scolytinae) based on 18 molecular markers

“…In the last years, a growing number of phylogenetic studies on beetles have started to include nuclear protein coding genes, especially EF-1α, CAD, ArgK, and wingless [11,16,17], which are also widely used in other insect taxa [18][19][20][21]. However, a relatively limited amount of work has been done to discover and select additional nuclear genes for beetle systematics [22,[23][24][25], and all studies to date were based on less than 10 molecular markers [26,27]. Therefore, obtaining a high degree of phylogenetic resolution in beetles is difficult; a direct consequence of high species diversity and a limited number of informative markers.…”

DNA barcoding, species-specific PCR and real-time PCR techniques for the identification of six Tribolium pests of stored products

“…The genus Tribolium has 36 described species4, ten of which are stored products pests5. T. castaneum and T. confusum are major pests of processed grain and cereal products with cosmopolitan distribution, including P.R.…”