Abstract
The firefly species Luciola unmunsana was first discovered on the Unmunsan Mountain in Cheongdo-gun, Gyeongsangbuk-do, South Korea and consequently named after the mountain. The population and habitats of this once-abundant species have recently decreased significantly due to light and environmental pollution caused by industrialization and urbanization. This study investigated the distribution and density of L. unmunsana around the ecological landscape conservation area of the Unmunsan Mountain. Additionally, we conducted molecular experiments on regional variations, genetic diversity and phylogenetic relationships among the various populations of L. unmunsana in South Korea. The genetic relationships among populations were also analyzed using mitochondrial DNA by collecting 15 male adults from each of the 10 regions across South Korea selected for analysis. Differences were observed between populations in the east, west and south of the Baekdudaegan Mountain Range. The firefly populations collected from the eastern region, which included Gyeongsang-do, showed a close genetic relationship with fireflies collected from the Unmunsan Mountain. Thus, the findings of this study can be used as baseline data for re-introducing L. unmunsana to the Unmunsan Mountain.
Highlights
Urban population growth and accompanying urban expansion have rapidly progressed in the Korean Peninsula since the end of the Korean War in 1953 [1]
Eight firefly species have been recorded in the Korean Peninsula [12], while they constitute more than 2000 species in 100 genera worldwide [13]
We investigated the spatial distribution of L. unmunsana populations and performed DNA sequencing using
Summary
Urban population growth and accompanying urban expansion have rapidly progressed in the Korean Peninsula since the end of the Korean War in 1953 [1] This rapid urbanization has played a role in environmental pollution and habitat modification in. Several genetic studies using luciferase genes showed that L. papariensis and L. unmunsana were the same species [16,17]. Phylogenetic studies of fireflies in Korea and Japan using luciferase and mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I (COI) genes confirmed that the two species were synonymous [18,19,20]. The mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase II gene (COII) has been used successfully to study population genetic structure and population history of a wide range of insect species [36,37,38,39]. COII and 16s rDNA genes of L. unmunsana to identify the geographical variations among its populations
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