Slowly dispersing neotenic beetles can speciate on a penny coin and generate space-limited diversity in the tropical mountains.

ABSTRACT: We demonstrate the controversial origin of a biological species within an area of a few kilometres in the absence of physical barriers. We employed nuclear rRNA/mitochondrial and genome-wide SNP approaches to infer relationships of four species of net-winged beetles characterised by female neoteny. Three species are distributed at low elevations and a single population colonised a 40 km(2) highland plateau and established distinct biological species despite incomplete genetic isolation. The speciation process is extreme in the highly localised spatial scale, due to the low dispersal power of neotenics, and provides clear support for a microallopatric model based on ecological conditions. In contrast with neutral evolution in a homogenous environment, as demonstrated by the genetic divergen

SUBMITTER: Bray TC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5025657 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature