How to translate text using browser tools
21 March 2024 Endemic and cryptic: different biogeographic histories of three Italian blister beetles of the genus Meloe (Coleoptera: Meloidae: Meloinae: Meloini)
Alessandra Riccieri, Lucrezia Spagoni, Marco A. Bologna
Author Affiliations +
Abstract

The Italian geographic region is characterized by complex and diversified biogeographic patterns and is represented by a high number of endemic species. Endemic species characterized by a limited distribution range should be a primary concern in conservation. This article aimed to investigate the phylogenetic and biogeographic relationships of 2 Italian endemic species of the wingless blister beetle genus Meloe Linnaeus, 1758: Meloe (Eurymeloe) apenninicus and Meloe (E.) baudii. Our inferences, based on morphological characters, 2 mitochondrial (16S and COI) and 2 nuclear (CAD and 28S) markers and the use of 3 species delimitation analyses approaches, pointed out the presence of a new Italian endemic species (M. (E.) digiuliorum sp. n.), here described, and 3 different patterns of phylogenetic and biogeographic affinities. M. digiuliorum is close to the Spanish endemic M. orobates comb. n., revealing a possible fragmentation of the ancestor range in the Pleistocene (ca. 0.84 Mya) followed by isolation in Italy and Spain. M. apenninicus is the sister species of the European-Anatolian M. rugous and M. cfr. rugosus, and this pattern originated around the Plio-Pleistocene boundary (ca. 2.83 Mya) likely influenced by the climatic fluctuations and the presence of the Alpine barrier. Finally, 2 subspecies were referred to M. baudii: the nominal one, endemic to Italy, and theTuranian-E European M. b. glazunovi stat. n., disclosing a third more recent (ca. 0.64 Mya) pattern of biogeographic disjunction.

Alessandra Riccieri, Lucrezia Spagoni, and Marco A. Bologna "Endemic and cryptic: different biogeographic histories of three Italian blister beetles of the genus Meloe (Coleoptera: Meloidae: Meloinae: Meloini)," Insect Systematics and Diversity 8(2), 1-18, (21 March 2024). https://doi.org/10.1093/isd/ixae003
Received: 18 September 2023; Accepted: 24 January 2024; Published: 21 March 2024
JOURNAL ARTICLE
18 PAGES

This article is only available to subscribers.
It is not available for individual sale.
+ SAVE TO MY LIBRARY

KEYWORDS
cryptic species
Mediterranean biogeography
Molecular analyses
new species
taxonomy
RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS
Get copyright permission
Back to Top