The role of dispersal for shaping phylogeographical structure of flightless beetles from the Andes.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Páramo is a tropical alpine ecosystem present in the northern Andes. Its patchy distribution imposes limits and barriers to specialist inhabitants. We aim to assess the effects of this habitat distribution on divergence across two independently flightless ground beetle lineages, in the genera Dyscolus and Dercylus.

Methods

One nuclear and one mitochondrial gene from 110 individuals from 10 sites across the two lineages were sequenced and analyzed using a combination of phylogenetics, population genetic analyses, and niche modeling methods.

Results

The two lineages show different degrees of population subdivision. Low levels of gene flow were found in Dyscolus alpinus, where one dominant haplotype is found in four out of the six populati

SUBMITTER: Munoz-Tobar SI 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6611450 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature