Comparative historical biogeography of Plateumaris leaf beetles (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) in Japan: interplay between fossil and molecular data

Abstract

Aim In an attempt to use molecular and fossil data interactively in historical biogeography, we studied the phylogeography of five Plateumaris leaf beetles in Japan using mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI) sequence data to explore interspecific differences in phylogeographical patterns and estimate the timings of colonization and geographical differentiation. Location A total of 461 beetles from five species on Hokkaido, Honshu and Kyushu islands of Japan were analysed with 117 beetles from three conspecies and two congeners from the mainland (Russia, including Sakhalin; Korea; Mongolia; Belgium; France; hereafter, the continent). Methods Using the sequence data from a 750‐bp portion of the COI gene, we studied the phylogeny of COI haplotypes, intraspecific population differentiation using analysis of molecular variance and the Mantel test, and intraspecific phylogeography using nested clade analysis. In addition, divergence times between the continental and Japanese lineages, as well as among the various Japanese lineages, were estimated using a Bayesian approach with node constraints based on fossil records of extant species. Results Three widely distributed species showed different degrees of geographical differentiation corresponding to their different colonization history in Japan. Bayesian estimates of divergence time revealed that one of two endemic species, which originated before the late Pliocene, attained intraspecific differentiation through the Pliocene and Pleistocene, whereas another endemic species has been confined in one locality, and three non‐endemic species colonized Japan after the mid‐Pleistocene. Main conclusions Molecular analyses of an insect group with relatively abundant fossil data can contribute greatly to the understanding of diverse biogeographical histories of related species in a region. Bayesian estimates of divergence time could be used to assess the variable evolutionary rates of the COI gene, and may be applied to other related insect species.

Genetic divergence in nuclear genomes between populations of Fagus crenata along the Japan Sea and Pacific sides of Japan

“…Thus, the Tsugaru Strait may have played a role in limiting successful migration during postglacial recolonization, and/or in restricting gene flow between established populations in Hokkaido and Honshu, and thus promoted genetic differentiation between them. The Tsugaru Strait has been a physical barrier to migration and gene flow in various animal and plant species (e.g., Ohdachi et al 2001;Sota and Hayashi 2007;Aizawa et al 2007;Yoshikawa et al 2008). However, there is another hypothesis regarding the evolutionary history of the species that could explain some of the observed differentiation between populations.…”

Multiple speciation events in an arthropod with divergent evolution in sexual morphology

“…An ML tree was constructed using GARLI, and the divergence times were estimated using a relaxed clock model using MULTIDIVTIME (Thorne & Kishino 2002). Since no fossil or geohistoric evidence was available for calibrating the millipede divergence time, we referred to the evolutionary rate of the COI gene of Plateumaris beetles in Japan (Sota & Hayashi 2007), because the sequence region in the Plateumaris data was identical to the early part of the millipede sequence data and both organisms occur in the same geographical region. Accounting for a time-dependent rate of sequence divergence (Ho et al 2005), the rate of sequence divergence per million years (Myr) at t Myr BP was expressed as 0.032 Â exp(21.984t) þ 0.018.…”

Repeated independent evolution of obligate pollination mutualism in the Phyllantheae– Epicephala association

“…We used only the COI substitution rate because it is generally conserved across arthropod taxa (Gaunt & Miles 2002), has been widely used for dating in insects Quek et al 2007;Ueda et al 2008) and clusters at approximately 1.5% Myr K1 in several arthropod groups ( Farrell 2001;Quek et al 2004;Sota & Hayashi 2007). To obtain relative divergence times for the Epicephala phylogeny, we forced the root node (i.e.…”