Historical isolation of the Galapagos carpenter bee (Xylocopa darwini) despite strong flight capability and ecological amplitude.

ABSTRACT: Colonization across the Galápagos Islands by the carpenter bee (Xylocopa darwini) was reconstructed based on distribution of mitochondrial haplotypes (cytochrome oxidase II (COII) sequences) and haplotype lineages. A total of 12 haplotypes were found in 118 individuals of X. darwini. Distributional, phylogenetic and phylogeographic analyses suggest early colonization of most islands followed by historical isolation in two main groups: eastern and central-western islands. Evidence of recurrent inter-island colonization of haplotypes is largely lacking, despite strong flight capability and ecological amplitude of the species. Recent palaeogeographic data suggest that several of the current islands were connected in the past and thus the isolation pattern may have been even more pronounced. A

SUBMITTER: Vargas P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4373804 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature