A taxonomic revision of westernEupholidopterabush crickets (Orthoptera:Tettigoniidae): testing the discrimination power ofDNAbarcode

Abstract

AbstractThe genusEupholidopteraincludes 46Mediterranean species distributed fromTurkey toGreece,Italy and southernFrance. In the eastern part of its range,Eupholidopterahas been considered to consist of several distinct species, while in theBalkans andItalian peninsula onlyE. chabrierihas been recognized. However, the status of someItalian populations, confined to particular geographic areas, remains uncertain. To investigate the delimitation of theItalian taxa ofEupholidoptera, we performed both morphological and molecular analyses. Morphological analysis was carried out by considering diagnostic characters usually used to distinguish different taxa, such as the shape of titillators in males and the subgenital plate in females. Molecular analysis was performed by sequencing three mitochondrial genes:12SrRNA,16SrRNA, partially sequenced and the entire gene ofcox1. Molecular markers were used to infer phylogenetic relationships among theItalianEupholidopteraspecies and to reconstruct the historical processes that shaped their current geographic distribution. Results from both morphological and molecular analyses were used to revise the taxonomic arrangement of species. On the whole we were able to distinguish nine lineages ofItalianEupholidoptera, of whichE. tyrrhenicasp.n.fromCorsica is described as a new species.This published work has been registered in ZooBank,http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:EBD181A0-5263-4880-AC80-66F624506E3A.