Phylogenomic and mitogenomic data can accelerate inventorying of tropical beetles during the current biodiversity crisis

Abstract

Conservation efforts must be evidence-based, so rapid and economically feasible methods should be used to quantify diversity and distribution patterns. We have attempted to overcome current impediments to the gathering of biodiversity data by using integrative phylogenomic and three mtDNA fragment analyses. As a model, we sequenced the Metriorrhynchini beetle fauna, sampled from ~700 localities in three continents. The species-rich dataset included ~6,500 terminals, ~1,850 putative species delimited at 5% uncorrected pairwise threshold, possibly ~1,000 of them unknown to science. Neither type of data could alone answer our questions on biodiversity and phylogeny. The phylogenomic backbone enabled the integrative delimitation of robustly defined natural genus-group units that will inform future research. Using constrained mtDNA analysis, we identified the spatial structure of species diversity, very high species-level endemism, and a biodiversity hotspot in New Guinea. We suggest that focused field research and subsequent laboratory and bioinformatic workflow steps would substantially accelerate the inventorying of any hyperdiverse tropical group with several thousand species. The outcome would be a scaffold for the incorporation of further data from environmental sequencing and ecological studies. The database of sequences could set a benchmark for the spatiotemporal evaluation of biodiversity, would support evidence-based conservation planning, and would provide a robust framework for systematic, biogeographic, and evolutionary studies.

European net-winged beetles of the Pyropterus clade, with the description of Gomezzuritus gen. nov. (Coleoptera: Lycidae)

“…Now, the number of known fossils from Eocene amber surpasses the species richness of modern fauna in the region. High diversity and a long time increase the probability of the independent origin of similar structures as seen in the repeated origin of the shortened primary costa 1 in the hyperdiverse Metriorrhynchini (Leptotrichalus Kleine versus the genera of the trichaline clade; Sklenarova et al 2014;Bocek & Bocak 2017;Motyka et al 2021). Analogically, costa 3 can be shortened in some stenopterous lycids (Kazantsev 2020;Kusy et al 2022).…”

“…The classification of net-winged beetles has recently been intensively studied and substantially modified based on morphology, ribosomal, mitochondrial, and genomic data (Kazantsev 2004(Kazantsev , 2005(Kazantsev , 2012bBocak & Bocakova 2008;Kusy et al 2019;Motyka et al 2021). Dictyopterini is now a part of Erotinae that contains ~120 described species in the Holarctic region.…”

Neogene climatic fluctuations and poor connectivity with the centres of diversity shaped the Western Palearctic net-winged beetle fauna

“…Therefore, we assume that they were severely affected by the Pliocene-Pleistocene climatic changes. The lycid larvae depend on liquid food and have a limited dispersal capacity (Bocak & Matsuda, 2003; Li et al ., 2015; Jiruskova et al ., 2019; Motyka et al ., 2021a, b). As a result, most species cannot readily exploit ex-situ refugia.…”

“…Like larvae, the desiccation-prone soft-bodied adults also prefer moist places, and only some species tolerate semiarid conditions (some Calochromini, Lycini, and Metriorrhynchini; Masek et al ., 2018). The family is highly diverse in the tropics, where only a fraction of the diversity has been described (Motyka et al ., 2021a). The Holarctic net-winged beetle fauna is relatively poor in species number (80 Nearctic and ∼300 Palearctic species; Miller, 2002; Bocakova & Bocak, 2007).…”

“…We assume that the ranges of net-winged beetles are primarily defined by at least periodical accessibility of moist organic material exploited by larvae with mouthparts adapted to liquid food (Bocak & Matsuda, 2003). Like larvae, the desiccation-prone soft-bodied adults also prefer moist places, and only some species tolerate semiarid conditions (some Calochromini, Lycini, and Metriorrhynchini; diversity has been described (Motyka et al, 2021a). The Holarctic net-winged beetle fauna is relatively poor in species number (80 Nearctic and ~300 Palearctic species; Miller, 2002;Bocakova & Bocak, 2007).…”