Integrative taxonomy and conservation of cryptic beetles in the Mediterranean region (Hydrophilidae)

Abstract

Arribas, P., Andújar, C., Sánchez‐Fernández, D., Abellán, P. & Millán, A. (2012). Integrative taxonomy and conservation of cryptic beetles in the Mediterranean region (Hydrophilidae). —Zoologica Scripta, 00, 000–000.Because biodiversity inventory forms the basis for the effective conservation of species and habitats, there is an imperative need to discover and describe new species. A significant part of presently unknown biodiversity is constituted by cryptic species complexes, where traditional taxonomy usually fails due to a lack of clear taxonomic characters in the external structures of specimens. Integrative taxonomy offers a powerful tool to shed light on this part of encrypted biodiversity, combining multiple operational criteria in an evolutionary context in order to delineate species boundaries. The present study used an integrative approach to explore the species boundaries in a water beetle complex (Enochrus falcarius species complex) inhabiting saline streams, a rare and threatened habitat across the Mediterranean region. First, hypotheses about the candidate species on the basis of phylogenetic analyses and biogeographical information were proposed. Second, lineage divergence was evaluated between candidate species using (i) molecular cluster delimitation, (ii) morphometry (both linear body morphometrics and pronotum outlines) and (iii) ecological niche similarity estimates. We found divergence between candidate species on the basis of molecular, biogeographical and niche information, and consequently, four species were delimited within the E. falcarius complex (i.e. Enochrus jesusarribasi sp. n., Enochrus blazquezae sp. n., Enochrus risii sp. n. and Enochrus falcarius), despite the fact that they showed high morphological similarity. Enochrus falcarius, as previously considered, had not been proposed to be of conservational concern, because until now, it had been regarded as a single broadly distributed species in the Mediterranean region. However, the four entities here delimited within this species complex displayed characteristics that categorised them as vulnerable taxa. Hence, these results show how applying integrative taxonomy approaches and rapid vulnerability assessments to lineages from threatened habitats with the potential to comprise cryptic diversity could become a fundamental tool for biodiversity conservation, driving the discovery of cryptic species and consequently the modification of previous, inadequately evaluated vulnerability categorisations.