Phylogeography of the termite Macrotermes gilvus and insight into ancient dispersal corridors in Pleistocene Southeast Asia.

ABSTRACT: Dispersal of soil-dwelling organisms via the repeatedly exposed Sunda shelf through much of the Pleistocene in Southeast Asia has not been studied extensively, especially for invertebrates. Here we investigated the phylogeography of an endemic termite species, Macrotermes gilvus (Hagen), to elucidate the spatiotemporal dynamics of dispersal routes of terrestrial fauna in Pleistocene Southeast Asia. We sampled 213 termite colonies from 66 localities throughout the region. Independently inherited microsatellites and mtDNA markers were used to infer the phylogeographic framework of M. gilvus. Discrete phylogeographic analysis and molecular dating based on fossil calibration were used to infer the dynamics of M. gilvus dispersal in time and space across Southeast Asia. We found that the termit

SUBMITTER: Veera Singham G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5706666 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature