Taxonomy and phylogeny of north mediterranean Reticulitermes termites (Isoptera, Rhinotermitidae): a new insight

Abstract

The molecular characterisation of 18 new populations of Reticulitermes is here presented for COII and 16S genes; results are elaborated and compared to all available ones, at distances and gene trees (Maximum Parsimony, Maximum likelihood, Bayesian analysis) levels. Within the R. lucifugus complex, a subspecific rank of differentiation appears tenable for Italian (R. lucifugus lucifugus, R. lucifugus corsicus) and European (R. lucifugus banyulensis, R. lucifugus grassei) taxa; a subspecific differentiation emerges also for the Sicilian samples. The existence of two different entities in the area formerly defined as inhabited by R. balkanensis is demonstrated; The north-eastern Italian Reticulitermes sp. is found to be more widely distributed in northern and south-eastern Italy and shows a close relationship to the sample from Peloponnese; the GenBank sample from continental Greece, on the contrary, appears more related to other eastern taxa such as R. lucifugus from Turkey and R. clypeatus from Israel; the distribution and differentiation of eastern Reticulitermes taxa are explained through the role that southern Balkans should have played as glacial refuge. Present data also evidences instances of anthropic involvement in taxa distribution; for one of these, the importation of at least a family group is taken into account.

Caste differentiation and growth of laboratory colonies of Reticulitermes urbis (Isoptera, Rhinotermitidae)

“…Before any formal descriptions occurred, R. urbis was mistaken for R. lucifugus (Rossi) due to morphological similarities (Campadelli, 1987(Campadelli, , 1988Marini and Ferrari, 1998). R. urbis native distribution includes the Balkan Peninsula (Marini and Mantovani, 2002;Luchetti et al, 2004Luchetti et al, , 2005Luchetti et al, , 2007Austin et al, 2006). In Italy and southern France, it is primarily found in urban areas where it was most likely introduced by man.…”

Mitochondrial evolutionary rate and speciation in termites: data on European Reticulitermes taxa (Isoptera, Rhinotermitidae)

“…Among these, the subterranean termites of the genus Reticulitermes are the most abundant, naturally residing termites in Europe. Many taxa have been analysed for morphology, cuticular hydrocarbons, defensive compounds, behaviour, mitochondrial and nuclear DNA (Clément et al, 2001;Marini and Mantovani, 2002;Austin et al, 2002;Uva et al, 2004a,b;Luchetti et al, 2004).…”

Colonial and geographic variations in agonistic behaviour, cuticular hydrocarbons and mtDNA of Italian populations of Reticulitermes lucifugus (Isoptera, Rhinotermitidae)

“…It has been observed only in a few urban sites, but nothing is known of its natural distribution. Previous works on R. lucifugus from Italy have examined biology (Grassi and Sandias, 1893;Jucci, 1920Jucci, , 1921Jucci, , 1924Jucci, , 1936Ghidini, 1956;Springhetti, 1966), behavior (Springhetti and Amorelli, 1982), morphology (Lozzia, 1990), genetics (Clément, 1981;Marini and Mantovani, 2002;Luchetti et al, 2004) and chromosome structure (Fontana, 1980). However, until now, no attempt has been made to study the relationship between these different factors.…”