Evolutionary diversification of montane Atlantic Forest butterflies

de Moraes Magaldi, Luiza

doi:10.47749/t/unicamp.2021.1260840

Cited by 1 publication

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“…The speciation between A. alalia and A. mantiqueira probably occurred recently during the Quaternary, considering that the divergence between these species and its sister species, A. catarina , was estimated around 3 million years ago, at the end of the Pliocene (Magaldi, 2021). Pleistocene climatic oscillations have been hypothesized to have shaped the genetic structure of populations of other species currently found on the MAF (do Amaral et al., 2021; Françoso et al., 2016; Thom et al., 2020).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Montane diversification as a mechanism of speciation in neotropical butterflies

de Moraes Magaldi,

Gueratto,

Ortega‐Abboud

et al. 2024

Ecology and Evolution

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The mountains in the Atlantic Forest domain are environments that harbor a high biodiversity, including species adapted to colder climates that were probably influenced by the climatic variations of the Pleistocene. To understand the phylogeographic pattern and assess the taxonomic boundaries between two sister montane species, a genomic study of the butterflies Actinote mantiqueira and A. alalia (Nymphalidae: Acraeini) was conducted. Analyses based on partial sequences of the mitochondrial gene COI (barcode region) failed to recover any phylogenetic or genetic structure discriminating the two species or sampling localities. However, single nucleotide polymorphisms gathered using Genotyping‐by‐Sequencing provided a strong isolation pattern in all analyses (genetic distance, phylogenetic hypothesis, clustering analyses, and FST statistics) which is consistent with morphology, separating all individuals of A. alalia from all populations of A. mantiqueira. The three sampled mountain ranges where A. mantiqueira populations occur—Serra do Mar, Serra da Mantiqueira, and Poços de Caldas Plateau—were identified as three isolated clusters. Paleoclimate simulations indicate that both species' distributions changed according to climatic oscillations in the Pleistocene period, with the two species potentially occurring in areas of lower altitude during glacial periods when compared to the interglacial periods (as the present). Besides, a potential path between their distribution through the Serra do Mar Mountain range was inferred. Therefore, the Pleistocene climatic fluctuation had a significant impact on the speciation process between A. alalia and A. mantiqueira, which was brought on by isolation at different mountain summits during interglacial periods, as shown by the modeled historical distribution and the observed genetic structure.

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