Phylogeography recapitulates topography: very fine‐scale local endemism of a saproxylic ‘giant’ springtail at Tallaganda in the Great Dividing Range of south–east Australia

Abstract

Comparative phylogeography can reveal processes and historical events that shape the biodiversity of species and communities. As part of a comparative research program, the phylogeography of a new, endemic Australian genus and species of log-dependent (saproxylic) collembola was investigated using mitochondrial sequences, allozymes and anonymous single-copy nuclear markers. We found the genetic structure of the species corresponds with five a priori microbiogeographical regions, with population subdivision at various depths owing to palaeoclimatic influences. Closely related mtDNA haplotypes are codistributed within a single region or occur in adjacent regions, nuclear allele frequencies are more similar among more proximate populations, and interpopulation migration is rare. Based on mtDNA divergence, a late Miocene-late Pliocene coalescence is likely. The present-day distribution of genetic diversity seems to have been impacted by three major climatic events: Pliocene cooling and drying (2.5-7 million years before present, Mybp), early Pleistocene wet-dry oscillations (c. 1.2 Mybp) and the more recent glacial-interglacial cycles that have characterized the latter part of the Quaternary (<0.4 Mybp).

Phylogenetic analysis of the Australian trans-Bass Strait millipede genus Pogonosternum (Carl, 1912) (Diplopoda, Polydesmida, Paradoxosomatidae) indicates multiple glacial refugia in southeastern Australia

“…Similar phylogeographic patterns seem to occur in other soil invertebrates with limited dispersal capacities in southern Australia, for example flatworms (Sunnucks et al 2006) and springtails (Garrick et al 2004). …”

“…Phylogenetic studies of southeastern Australian soil invertebrates can give important insights into the impact of glacial periods during the Pleistocene (Byrne 2008, Endo et al 2014, Garrick et al 2004, Schultz et al 2009, Sunnucks et al 2006) and assist in identifying biogeographic barriers (Chapple et al 2011). Unfortunately, phylogenetic studies of Australian millipedes are rare and restricted to a few taxa from a small number of localities (Adams and Humphreys 1993, Nistelberger et al 2014, Wojcieszek and Simmons 2012).…”

Environmental Complexity and Biodiversity: The Multi-Layered Evolutionary History of a Log-Dwelling Velvet Worm in Montane Temperate Australia

“…An appropriate landscape setting for investigating factors that generate biodiversity is the Tallaganda comparative phylogeographic study system described in Garrick et al [4] and subsequent papers reviewed in Garrick et al [5]. Briefly, Tallaganda is an area of mesic, eucalypt-dominated forest on a 100 km north-south section of the Gourock Range, a spur of the Great Dividing Range, in New South Wales, Australia (Figure 1).…”

“…Briefly, Tallaganda is an area of mesic, eucalypt-dominated forest on a 100 km north-south section of the Gourock Range, a spur of the Great Dividing Range, in New South Wales, Australia (Figure 1). In addition to a north-south oriented Gourock Range ridgeline, a series of approximately east-west oriented ridges further subdivide the area into a series of microgeographic regions with distinct microclimates and hypothesized palaeoclimatic history [4,6,7]. …”

A new species of Harpacticella Sars, 1908 (Copepoda, Harpacticoida), from a tidal pool on Jeju Island, Korea

“…This barcode can also be used for biogeographical analysis of invasive or widely distributed species (Garrick et al 2004). We obtained a 619-bp partial sequence of mtCOI (KM272559) for use in future studies; no sequences have been obtained from congeners to date, even though it would be interesting to determine the phylogenetic relationships among congeners based on analysis of mtCOI sequences.…”