The cereal rust miteAbacarus hystrix(Acari: Eriophyoidea) is a complex of species: evidence from mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequences

Abstract

The cereal rust mite Abacarus hystrix (Nalepa), a significant pest of grasses, has been regarded as one of a few exceptions among eriophyoid mites with reference to the pattern of host plant utilization. At least 60 grass species have been recorded as its hosts. Thus, the mite has long been considered as a host generalist in which host specialization would not be likely to evolve. However, recent studies have revealed that host-associated specialization is possible in A. hystrix. Here, we aimed to discriminate between the three populations of A. hystrix associated with the different hosts (namely quackgrass, ryegrass and smooth brome) on the basis of mitochondrial (COI) and nuclear (D2 region of 28S rDNA) DNA sequences. The phylogenetic trees obtained with the maximum likelihood analysis of both COI and D2 region data sets showed that host-adapted strains of A. hystrix form distinct clades. Furthermore, on the COI nucleotide tree, the quackgrass- and brome-associated strains were internally divided each into two well-supported monophyletic clusters. The nucleotide D2 region data set tree showed that brome-associated strain is polyphyletic in origin. There is clear co-variation of DNA results with earlier morphological and ecological traits, as well as the results of crossing experiments. We showed that reproductively incompatible strains of A. hystrix exhibit more than 20% sequence divergence in the COI gene and 0.2% sequence divergence in the D2 28S rDNA. Our results did not confirm the placement of three host-associated strains of A. hystrix within one, ostensibly generalist, species.

Molecular evidence for species separation in the water mite Hygrobates nigromaculatus Lebert, 1879 (Acari, Hydrachnidia): evolutionary consequences of the loss of larval parasitism

“…18 and 7.5%, respectively) than those typically observed in populations of a single species. This genetic distance in the nucleotide sequences of the DNA barcodes (COI and D2 28S rDNA) is substantial, with the differentiation between the lake and stream populations comparable to that between the majority of currently recognized congeneric species (Hebert et al 2004), including other actinotrichid mites (Dabert et al 2008;Skoracka and Dabert 2010). Very high F st values (0.995) also support the conclusion that H. nigromaculatus and H. setosus are two different species.…”

Basal divergence of Eriophyoidea (Acariformes, Eupodina) inferred from combined partial COI and 28S gene sequences and CLSM genital anatomy

“…Primers for PCR amplification and sequencing are shown in Table 2 (Skoracka and Dabert 2010;Skoracka et al 2012Skoracka et al , 2014Bouneb et al 2014) were added to the original dataset (Abacarus hystrix, gi_237513198; Aceria eximia, gi_126009698; Aceria tosichella, gi_337271927; Aceria tulipae, gi_237513230; Aculodes mckenziei, gi_237513226; Trisetacus juniperinus sensu K., gi_403233994).…”

Diversity and significance of eriophyoid mites (Acari: Eriophyoidea) associated with coniferous trees in Poland: a review

“…morphologically identical or very similar species) are very common within the Eriophyoidea (e.g. Skoracka & daBert 2010;MiLLer et al 2013;LewandowSki et al 2014). Hence, species diversity within this group may be much greater than is currently thought.…”