Abstract
The assassin bug, Sphedanolestes impressicollis (Hemiptera: Reduviidae), is widely distributed in East Asia. It is an ideal model for evaluating the effects of climatic fluctuation and geographical events on the distribution patterns of East Asian reduviids. Here, we used two mitochondrial genes and one nuclear gene to investigate the phylogeographic pattern of the assassin bug based on comprehensive sampling in China, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, and Laos. High levels of genetic differentiation were detected among the geographic populations classified into the northern and southern groups. A significant correlation was detected between genetic and geographical distances. The East China Sea land bridge served as a “dispersal corridor” during Pleistocene glaciation. The estimated divergence time indicated that the northern group may have separated from the eastern Chinese populations when the sea level rapidly rose during the “Ryukyu Coral Sea Stage” and the East China Sea land bridge was completely submerged. Demographic history and ecological niche modeling suggested that appropriate climatic conditions may have accounted for the rapid spread across the Korean Peninsula and Japan during the late Pleistocene. Our study underscores the pivotal roles of the Pleistocene sea level changes and climatic fluctuations in determining the distribution patterns of East Asian reduviids.
Highlights
During the Quaternary, at least six glacial advances affected the physical and biological environments of the Northern Hemisphere [1]
We resolved the phylogeographic pattern among Sphedanolestes impressicollis populations in East Asia, which were classified into the N and southern group (S group)
The East China Sea (ECS) land bridge served as a “dispersal corridor” during Pleistocene glaciation
Summary
During the Quaternary, at least six glacial advances affected the physical and biological environments of the Northern Hemisphere [1]. Phylogeographic studies of various organisms have demonstrated that climatic fluctuations and geographic events played major roles in shaping present-day geographical species distribution, genetic structure, and diversity [5,6,7]. Climatic fluctuations during the Quaternary dramatically influenced the evolution and distribution of organisms currently found throughout East Asia [12,13,14]. The eastern edges of this region have undergone drastic changes in paleo-landscape structure due to frequent shallow sea transgressions and regressions between eastern China, the Korean Peninsula, and the Japanese archipelago. These sea level variations have alternately exposed and submerged the East China Sea (ECS) land bridge. Most phylogeographic insect studies have been conducted on local regions and have not considered the large spatial scale [17,18,19,20]
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