Abstract
The ability to quantify morphological variation is essential for understanding the processes of species diversification. The geometric morphometrics approach allows reliable description of variation in animals, including insects. Here, this method was used to quantify the morphological variation among European and Asiatic populations of Leptura annularis Fabricius, 1801 and its closely related species L. mimica Bates, 1884, endemic for Japan and Sakhalin islands. Since the taxonomic status of these two taxa is differently interpreted by taxonomists, they are collectively called “Leptura annularis complex” in this paper. The analysis was based on the measurements of hind wings of 269 specimens from six populations from Europe and Asia. The level of morphological divergence between most of continental European and Asiatic populations was relatively small and proportional to the geographic distance between them. However, distinct morphotype was detected in Sakhalin Is. and Japan. These data confirm the morphological divergence of the endemic L. mimica species. Obtained results highlight the potential of the geometric morphometric method in studying morphological variation in beetles.
Highlights
The understanding of large-scale patterns of variation in living organisms is a fundamental challenge for biological science (MacArthur 1972, Gaston and Blackburn 2000)
Significant differences in average wing size were detected among populations of L. annularis complex (ANOVA: F5, 257 = 22.56, P = 0.001, Fig. 3) and between sexes (ANOVA: F1, 257 = 6.02, P = 0.015, Fig. 3)
The level of morphological divergence between most of studied populations was relatively small and proportional to the geographic distance between them. These data suggest that the postglacial colonization of Europe and Asia by L. annularis probably originated from single refugium
Summary
The understanding of large-scale patterns of variation in living organisms is a fundamental challenge for biological science (MacArthur 1972, Gaston and Blackburn 2000). Insects have become widely used models for studying the geographical patterns of morphological variation in body size and body shape (Yom-Tov and Geffen 2006, Stillwell et al 2007, Abbasi 2009, Sadeghi et al 2009, Stillwell and Fox 2009). The Cerambycidae family constitutes a large and diverse group of beetles. Longhorn beetles differ in terms of habitat specialization: from highly-specialized monophagous species to polyphagous opportunists able to inhabit various habitats. There is a lack of papers devoted to quantification of the geographical patterns in morphological variation of longhorn beetles
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