Integrative taxonomy tests possible hybridisation between Central Asian cerambycids (Coleoptera)

Abstract

Hybridisation can lead to the formation of new evolutionary lineages and some described insect species may in fact be first‐generation hybrids of their parental species. Anoplistes forticornis and A. galusoi are two closely related cerambycid taxa endemic to Central Asia that exhibit a peculiar geographical distribution. Although the common diagnostic elytral pattern makes these beetles superficially easily distinguishable, there are marked resemblances in their morphology. By applying an integrative taxonomy approach, we verify the taxonomic status of A. forticornis and A. galusoi and test the possibility of hybridisation. The results of our comprehensive morphological examination and molecular analyses targeting mitochondrial (COI, 16S rRNA) and nuclear (arginine kinase, CAD, 28S rRNA) genes support the specific status of these taxa. In mtDNA, the putative hybrid specimen is more closely related to A. forticornis, which indicates that a female of this species bred with a male of A. galusoi. The supposed ecotypic variability (manifested in elytral pattern) is apparently not related to the topography or spatial structure of habitat. The phylogenetic hypothesis supports a peripatric scenario in which populations of the common ancestor had been separated for a significant period of time, first by the mountain ranges of Dzungarian Alatau (~11–10 Ma) and ultimately by the Ili River. The diverged taxa came into recent secondary contact following these isolation events. The methodology presented herein can be widely applied to identify first‐generation hybridisation in Coleoptera.

Elmis syriaca (Kuwert, 1890) and E. zoufali (Reitter, 1910) (Coleoptera: Elmidae) confirmed as distinct species based on molecular data, morphology and geographical distribution

“…Our conclusion is based on several lines of evidence and analyzed in comparison to other closely related groups of organisms, as follows. Firstly, the genetic distances in the examined mitochondrial and nuclear DNA regions are similar to values found for various closely related species in Coleoptera (e.g., [22,[49][50][51][52]), including for the sister species E. aenea and E. rioloides (as shown here). This finding is further corroborated through several species delimitation methods, based on different algorithms, all of which retrieve E. syriaca and E. zoufali as separate MOTUs with high support.…”

DNA vs. Morphology in Delineating Species Boundaries of Endemic Mongolian Eodorcadion Taxa (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae)

“…These gene regions have proven useful for taxonomic discrimination in Cerambycidae and Dorcadionini, e.g., refs. [14,[17][18][19][20]. PCR amplification was carried out using published primers and newly designed primers specific to the Cerambycidae COI barcode region (Table 1).…”

Dissecting natural hybridisation in longhorned beetles through an integrative approach: Further proof of reticulate evolution in Dorcadionini (Cerambycidae, Lamiinae)

“…Introgression was inadvertently discovered following DNA barcoding (Torres-Vila & Bonal, 2019;Zamoroka et al, 2019), molecular phylogenetic (Nakamine & Takeda, 2008) or species delimitation studies (Gorring & Farrell, 2023) that revealed discrepancies between mitochondrial DNA, nuclear genes and morphology. Yet other studies focused directly on hybridisation or introgression by combining morphology with microsatellites (Goczał et al, 2020) or morphology with mitochondrial and nuclear genes (Karpiński, Gorring, Hilszczański, et al, 2023;Plewa et al, 2018). In the genus Morimus which includes brachypterous species similar to the tribe Dorcadionini, hybridisation and introgression led to transitional forms making its taxonomy challenging (Gojković et al, 2022;Hardersen et al, 2017;Kostova et al, 2024;Solano et al, 2013).…”

“…Sometimes newly described taxa may be in fact first‐generation hybrids (Laforgue, 2016; Mossakowski, 2016), especially if the description was based on a unique specimen (Karpiński, Gorring, Hilszczański, et al., 2023). An interesting example is Goliathus atlas , one of the largest and most charismatic beetles in the world, described by Nickerl (1887) as ‘a link’ between two different species, Goliathus regius Klug and Goliathus cacicus (Olivier), based on a single male specimen.…”