The Holarctic genus Reticulitermes shows seven species within the Mediterranean Basin. While phylogeny and systematics at continental level has been deeply investigated, a few studies concentrated on local ranges. To gain a clearer picture of the diversity and evolution of the Italian species Reticulitermes lucifugus, we analyzed the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase II (COII) gene marker in newly collected colonies across the Peninsula. Data were gathered with all R. lucifugus sequences available from previous studies; COII sequences of the closely related Iberian taxa were also added to the data set. Maximum-likelihood, median-joining and statistical parsimony network elaborations on the resulting 119 colonies all agreed in indicating that: (i) the Sardo-Corsican subspecies R. lucifugus corsicus, strictly related to Southern Italian populations (including the Sicilian ones), is phylogenetically closer to the Iberian Reticulitermes grassei; and (ii) R. lucifugus lucifugus peninsular populations are structured into three clusters. The phylogenetic relationships and the biogeography of extant taxa suggest a scenario in which R. lucifugus ancestors colonized the Italian region through the Sardo-Corsican microplate during its Oligocene-Miocene anticlockwise rotation. Moreover, well after the colonization took place, northward range expansion might have produced the presently observed genetic diversity, as inferred from haplotype and nucleotide diversity estimates. On the whole, this study highlights the evolution of Italian Reticulitermes taxa and supports the importance of a wide taxon sampling especially when dealing with organisms easily dispersed by human activities.

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European dry-wood termites belong to the genus Kalotermes (Kalotermitidae), one of the two termite genera in Europe. Until the recent description of two new species, Kalotermes italicus in Italy and Kalotermes phoenicae in the eastern Mediterranean area, Kalotermes flavicollis was the only taxon known in this region. The presence of additional entities, suggested by morphological and physiological variation observed in K. flavicollis, was supported by molecular studies revealing four distinct genetic lineages: lineage A, K. flavicollis sensu strictu, from the Aegean area to Italy; lineage B, in Tuscany; lineage SC, in Sardinia and Corsica; lineage SF, in southern France. Lineages A and B may form mixed colonies, suggesting hybridization. To draw a more detailed picture of Kalotermes evolution and biogeography in Europe, we analyzed samples from previously unsampled areas, such as Spain and southern Italy, by means of the highly informative cox1/trnL/cox2 mitochondrial DNA marker. Overall, phylogenetic analyses confirmed previously identified lineages and taxa, but widened the distribution of the lineage SC to the mainland and of the lineage SF to Spain and Portugal. Results further provided evidence for the synonymy between lineage B and K. italicus. Species delimitation analysis suggested that the three K. flavicollis lineages, as well as K. italicus, can be separate taxa. Data also suggest a possible interspecific hybridization between K. italicus and both K. flavicollis lineages A and SC.

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