Abstract
Coprophanaeus (M.) ensifer (Germar, 1821) is a broadly distributed species occurring in areas of Brazilian Cerrado, Atlantic Rainforest, and Amazon Rainforest. Specimens of Coprophanaeus ensifer show variations in size and colour between populations from different habitats, but other morphological structures remain the same. Our aim was to investigate whether these local populations of C. ensifer should be considered different species or not. A fragment of COI (681bp) was sequenced from eighty-four specimens of five Coprophanaeus species: C. ensifer, Coprophanaeus lancifer, Coprophanaeus bonariensis, Coprophanaeus bellicosus, and Coprophanaeus spitzi. We estimated an optimal threshold on SPIDER and based on its value we corroborated the five species analysed. In addition, all species were recovered as coalescent lineages by the GMYC method, except for C. lancifer. Sixty-seven sequences of C. ensifer were submitted to an analysis of haplotypic diversity and molecular variance, and 34 different haplotypes were found, with ten shared by two individuals or more. No evidence for cryptic or separate species of C. ensifer was found based on the AMOVA and haplotype network of COI sequences.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
