<p class="HeadingRunIn"><strong>European phylogeography of <em>Rhyacophila tristis</em> Pictet (Trichoptera: Rhyacophilidae): preliminary results</strong></p>

Abstract

We present preliminary results of a phylogeographic analysis of Rhyacophila tristis, a wide-spread European caddisfly. Mitochondrial sequence data (the second part of the mtCOI gene) of 52 of specimens were used to investigate large-scale population genetic patterns of Central European populations of the study species. The results show strong genetic differences between a western and an eastern lineage. The deep split most probably indicates that the identified lineages of R. tristis survived in independent Pleistocene refugia in the Alps and in the Carpathians, emphasizing the importance of these areas in the Pleistocene survival of aquatic mountain organisms

Springs: DNA barcoding of caddisflies (Insecta, Trichoptera) in Croatia with notes on taxonomy and conservation biology

“…In more recent research the subspecies (forma) kykladica Malicky & Sipahiler 1993 from Greece was given species rank (Valladolid et al, 2019), and similar taxonomic research has been conducted analysing populations from other parts of its distribution range , including Croatia (Valladolid, 2020, in press)). Pictet, 1834 was the extensively studied including morphological and genetic analyses; the results showed significant genetic differences between eastern (Carpathians) and western populations (Alps), but with no clear morphological differences (Balint et al, 2011). Three specimens of R. tristis collected in the Konavle area in the south-easternmost part of Croatia exhibit intraspecific genetic distances in the range of 0.53% -2.85% (Tab.…”

East Meets West in the Western Carpathians: Contact Zone Between Alpine and Carpathian Caddisfly Lineages Evidenced by COI Barcodes

“…Rhyacophila tristis is an upstream species (Céréghino, Cugny & Lavandier, 2002) requiring welloxygenated water with low organic matter levels (Robert & Curtean-Bănăduc, 2005). The results of the rst European phylogeographic study on this species by Bálint et al (2011) showed strong genetic differences between its western and eastern populations, with lineages that probably survived independently in the Pleistocene refugia in the Alps and in the Carpathians. The presence of the western (BIN_W) and the eastern lineage (BIN_E) was also detected in a much smaller area of the W Carpathians.…”

“…The phylogeny was reconstructed based on 5' COI haplotypes using Bayesian approach in BEAST v2.5 (Bouckaert et al, 2019) and, separately, for the 3' COI marker also including published sequences (Bálint et al, 2009;Bálint et al, 2011). As an outgroup, the European congeners R. aquitanica and R. carpathica were included.…”

“…Western Carpathians represent the northernmost part of the Alpine-Carpathian mountain chain (Bielik, 1999). Due to high habitat diversity of this area, including numerous montane springs and streams, we hypothesize that the genetic patterns and level of the genetic diversity found by Bálint et al (2011) at the large geographic scale could be also detected at a much smaller area of the W Carpathians. It could also be expected that this mountain range may include a contact zone between the Alpine (western) and Carpathian (eastern) lineages of the R. tristis.…”

“…They prefer upper parts of streams, because larvae require well-oxygenated water with low levels of organic matter (Robert & Curtean-Bănăduc, 2005). Bálint et al (2011) provided the rst data on the large-scale population genetics of this (sub)montane species on the European level. The study revealed strong genetic differences between populations from the western and eastern part of Europe, but due to sparse sampling and large distances between sites, such a result was very likely.…”