Abstract
BackgroundThe common nettle (Urtica dioica L.) is co-associated with willows (Salix spp.) in riparian habitats across Europe. We sampled the widespread nettle psyllid, Trioza urticae (Linné, 1758), from Urtica in willow habitats on a megatransect of Europe from the Aegean to the Arctic Ocean. The aim of this study was to use an unusually widespread insect to assess the influence of geographic distances and natural geographic barriers on patterns of genetic variation and haplotype distribution.New informationPhylogeographic analysis using DNA sequences of two mtDNA regions, COI and cytB, shows that T. urticae specimens are organized into four regional groups (southern, central, northern and arctic). These groups are supported by both phylogenetic analysis (four geographically-based clades) and network analysis (four major haplotype groups). The boundary between southern and central groups corresponds to the Carpathian Mountains and the boundary between the central and northern groups corresponds to the Gulf of Finland. Overall these groups form a latitudinal cline in genetic diversity, which decreases with increasing latitude.
Highlights
A transect of Europe that sampled Salix habitats from the Aegean to the Arctic ocean has already been described [Cronk et al 2015]
The cooccurrence of Salix and Urtica allowed sampling of insects on both plant groups [e.g., Canty et al 2016], including the sampling for this study of the common nettle psyllid, Trioza urticae (Linné, 1758) (Psylloidea, family Triozidae), which is found at nearly every site along the transect (32 out of 42 sites)
From the 42 sites sampled along the Salix transect of Europe [Cronk et al 2015], 18 sites were chosen for genetic analysis of Trioza urticae collected from common stinging nettle, Urtica dioica [Cronk et al 2016], covering Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland and Norway (Table 1; Fig. 1)
Summary
A transect of Europe that sampled Salix (willow) habitats from the Aegean to the Arctic ocean has already been described [Cronk et al 2015]. Members of the hemipteran superfamily Psylloidea are small, phloem-feeding, oligophagous insects [Hodkinson 2009], generally known as psyllids, or jumping plant lice They are organized into eight families [Burckhardt and Ouvrard 2012]. We sampled the widespread nettle psyllid, Trioza urticae (Linné, 1758), from Urtica in willow habitats on a megatransect of Europe from the Aegean to the Arctic Ocean. Phylogeographic analysis using DNA sequences of two mtDNA regions, COI and cytB, shows that T. urticae specimens are organized into four regional groups (southern, central, northern and arctic). These groups are supported by both phylogenetic analysis (four geographically-based clades) and network analysis (four major haplotype groups). Overall these groups form a latitudinal cline in genetic diversity, which decreases with increasing latitude
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