Montane and coastal species diversification in the economically important Mexican grasshopper genus Sphenarium (Orthoptera: Pyrgomorphidae)

Uncovering species boundaries in the Neotropical ant complexEctatomma ruidum(Ectatomminae) under the presence of nuclear mitochondrial paralogues

“…The presence of overlooked diversity and potential hybrids in this group agrees with previous studies of other animal taxa, which have revealed a complex evolutionary history and overlooked species diversity along the Mexican Pacific coast, and in particular near the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in Oaxaca (e.g. Zarza, Reynoso & Emerson, ; Pedraza‐Lara et al ., ).…”

Phylogeny of the spider genusIxchela Huber, 2000 (Araneae: Pholcidae) based on morphological and molecular evidence (CO1 and 16S), with a hypothesized diversification in the Pleistocene

“…). Our results correspond with the patterns of speciation and diversification that have been found in previous studies of both vertebrates and invertebrates in temperate montane forests in Mexico, hypothetically triggered by the climatic changes associated with the Pleistocene glaciations (Zarza et al ., ; Rícan et al ., ; Pedraza‐Lara et al ., ). Dodge () proposed the concept of ‘sky islands’ to explain how the high and isolated mountains surrounded by radically different lowland environments and vegetation types in the Sonoran Desert have had an important influence on the speciation processes of different groups of plants and animals.…”

“…The genus Ixchela has a natural distribution in temperate climate zones, in pine, oak or pine–oak forest at moderately high altitudes (1000–2950 m). The natural distribution pattern of Ixchela renders it an excellent model to explore the patterns of speciation and diversification found in temperate montane forests in Mexico, which have been hypothetically triggered by the climatic oscillations associated with the Pleistocene glaciations (Zarza, Reynoso & Emerson, ; Rícan et al ., ; Pedraza‐Lara et al ., ). This work represents the first attempt to explain the pattern of speciation and diversification in temperate forest spiders in Mexico.…”

Phylogeographic structure of Canthon cyanellus (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae), a Neotropical dung beetle in the Mexican Transition Zone: Insights on its origin and the impacts of Pleistocene climatic fluctuations on population dynamics

“…In addition, our results also show that C. cyanellus is a highly polymorphic species, given the large number of single haplotypes per population. Thus, the absence of haplotypes widely distributed across populations and geographical regions may be due to limited historical gene flow and to the fact that the populations current genetic structure has been determined by historical (isolation by distance) and contemporary (e.g., landscapes transformation) processes that restrict gene exchange between populations due to the fragmentation of landscapes as those existing in the In contrast, other studies carried out with other neotropical taxa, observe a more complex phylogeographic structure associated with the main mountain systems of Mexico (Daza et al 2009;Pedraza-Lara et al, 2015, Suárez-Atilano et al, 2014. Implying that the recent phylogeographic structure of those taxa is due to events that occurred during the Pleistocene.…”