Abstract
Swarm-founding wasps are endemic and common representatives of neotropical fauna and compose an interesting social tribe of vespids, presenting both complex social characteristics and uncommon traits for a eusocial group, such as the absence of castes with distinct morphology. The paper wasp Protonectarina sylveirae (Saussure) presents a broad distribution from Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay, occurring widespread in the Atlantic rainforest and arboreal Caatinga, being absent in the Amazon region. Given the peculiar distribution among swarm-founding wasps, an integrative approach to reconstruct the evolutionary history of P. sylveirae in a spatial-temporal framework was performed to investigate: the presence of genetic structure and its relationship with the geography, the evolution of distinct morphologic lineages and the possible historical event(s) in Neotropical region, which could explain the observed phylogeographic pattern. Individuals of P. sylveirae were obtained from populations of 16 areas throughout its distribution for DNA extraction and amplification of mitochondrial genes 12S, 16S and COI. Analysis of genetic diversity, construction of haplotype net, analysis of population structure and dating analysis of divergence time were performed. A morphometric analysis was also performed using 8 measures of the body of the adult (workers) to test if there are morphological distinction among populations. Thirty-five haplotypes were identified, most of them exclusively of a group and a high population structure was found. The possibility of genetic divergence because of isolation by distance was rejected. Morphological analysis pointed to a great uniformity in phenotypes, with only a small degree of differentiation between populations of south and the remaining. Divergence time analysis showed a Middle/Late Miocene origin, a period where an extensive marine ingression occurred in South America. Divergence of haplogroups began from the Plio/Pleistocene boundary and the last glacial maximum most likely modeled the current distribution of species, even though it was not the cause of genetic breaks.
Highlights
Comprehension of the evolutionary processes that generate and maintain the biological diversity of tropical fauna has been challenging biologists for centuries and should be the underpinning of conservation strategies [1]
The aim of this study was to answer the following questions to investigate the phylogeographic and demographic history of this species: (1) Do populations of P. sylveirae present genetic structure? (2) If yes, is this structure related to geography? (3) Does the genetic structure lead to the evolution of distinct morphologic lineages? (4) Is the genetic diversity of this species a result of past habitat fragmentation or recent range expansion? (5) Is there some historical event(s) in the Neotropical region that can be related to the observed phylogeographic pattern?
Three primary groups were delimited based on geography: Northeast, South and Central
Summary
Comprehension of the evolutionary processes that generate and maintain the biological diversity of tropical fauna has been challenging biologists for centuries and should be the underpinning of conservation strategies [1]. Current distributions result from the interaction between environmental requirements of species and geographical variation of environmental features [2]. Investigating the evolutionary history of species can increase understanding of the interactions between past climatic events and the evolutionary processes that contributed to current patterns of diversity [3,4,5]. Phylogeographic approaches facilitate an increased understanding of the role that historical events play in the geographical patterns of genetic variability within and among species [5, 8, 9]. Analysis of phenotypic variation within a phylogeographic approach can promote great advances in understanding how genetic and morphological divergence arises and how they behave in the face of ecological / evolutionary changes [10]
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