Phylogeography and population genetics of pine butterflies: Sky islands increase genetic divergence.

ABSTRACT: The sky islands of southeastern Arizona (AZ) mark a major transition zone between tropical and temperate biota and are considered a neglected biodiversity hotspot. Dispersal ability and host plant specificity are thought to impact the history and diversity of insect populations across the sky islands. We aimed to investigate the population structure and phylogeography of two pine-feeding pierid butterflies, the pine white (Neophasia menapia) and the Mexican pine white (Neophasia terlooii), restricted to these "islands" at this transition zone. Given their dependence on pines as the larval hosts, we hypothesized that habitat connectivity affects population structure and is at least in part responsible for their allopatry. We sampled DNA from freshly collected butterflies from

SUBMITTER: Halbritter DA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6912906 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature