First assessment on the molecular phylogeny and phylogeography of the species Gnaptor boryi distributed in Greece (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae)

Abstract

The genus Gnaptor Brullé, 1983 (Blaptini, Gnaptorina) occurs in southeast Europe as well as in Asiatic regions. As regards its taxonomy, four morphological species have been attributed: Gnaptor boryi, G. prolixus, G. spinimanus and G. medvedevi. Here, we use two different mitochondrial genetic markers (16S and cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (COI)) in order to investigate the relationships between the populations of the species G. boryi in Greece, compare them with the current taxonomy and conjecture about its biogeographic history. In total, 29 specimens (28 G. boryi and one G. prolixus) were analyzed using maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference methods. Our results clarified the presence of three well-supported lineages: two belongs to G. boryi and one to G. prolixus. The first diversification of these lineages started in the Late Miocene at 9 Mya with the split of G. prolixus from Turkey and the second major split occurred in the Early Pliocene at 3.7 Mya between the two lineages of G. boryi distributed separately in northern Greece and Peloponnesos. According to Statistical Dispersal – Vicariance Analysis and dispersal-extinction-cladogenesis analysis analyses, vicariance seems to be the biogeographic event responsible for the divergence of the two major lineages of G. boryi.

Keywords:

• Ancestral area reconstruction
• Bayesian inference
• biogeography
• divergence times
• Gnaptor
• maximum likelihood
• mitochondrial DNA

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank Dr. Bekir Keskin, Professor in the Ege University, for kindly providing the specimens of G. prolixus.

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of this article.