The Relationships within the Poecilimon ornatus Group (Orthoptera: Phaneropterinae) Based on the Cytochrome C Oxidase I Gene

Abstract

The genus Poecilimon includes 142 species divided into 18 groups. It is distributed throughout the Palaearctic area. One of the groups is the Poecilimon ornatus group, in which many closely related taxa have been identified (13 species). Although several searches have been carried out, the phylogeny and systematics of P. ornatus are only partly resolved. The most dispersed taxon within the group is Poecilimon affinis, having numerous subspecies. Species from the P. ornatus group have been described mainly based on morphological characteristics, as well as type of song. The aim of this study is to clarify the relationships between species from the P. ornatus group by comparing partial sequences of the cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) mitochondrial gene. The analyses were carried out on 84 specimens from 23 taxa. Bush-crickets from the P. ornatus group are monophyletic, in contrast to taxa within the P. affinis complex. Not all of the previously described divisions of the group based on morphology, bioacoustics, distribution, and ecology were confirmed.

New insights into the genetic diversity of the Balkan bush-crickets of the Poecilimon ornatus group (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae)

“…The BI and ML phylogenetic trees showed the same topology (Fig. 4) and confirmed the monophyly of the P. ornatus group (posterior probability support, PP = 1.0; bootstrap support, BP = 100), whereas the P. affinis complex was paraphyletic as suggested in Kociński (2020). The first clade consists of P. nobilis, P. artedentatus and P. obesus.…”

“…Recent studies suggested extending this complex with P. hoelzeli Harz, 1966 andP. ornatus (Schmidt, 1850) (Kociński 2020;Kociński et al 2021).…”

“…The taxonomy and phylogenetic relationships within Poecilimon are mainly based on morphological and bioacoustic traits (e.g., Heller et al 2006Heller et al , 2011Chobanov and Heller 2010;Ingrisch and Pavićević 2010;Kaya et al 2012Kaya et al , 2018Boztepe et al 2013;Sevgili et al 2018;Chobanov et al 2020). Many species groups of this genus have been studied in terms of molecular phylogeny and biogeography (Boztepe et al 2013;Kaya et al 2015;Kaya 2018;Borissov et al , 2021 while one of the largest groups -the Poecilimon ornatus group, has only recently been considered (Kociński 2020;Kociński et al 2021). This species group contains bush-crickets distributed mostly in mountainous areas from the South-Eastern Alps to the Carpathians and Peloponnese and an isolated spot in Ukraine.…”

“…This species group contains bush-crickets distributed mostly in mountainous areas from the South-Eastern Alps to the Carpathians and Peloponnese and an isolated spot in Ukraine. The latest findings using cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) barcodes showed the monophyly of the P. ornatus group (Kociński 2020). However, there is still an unclear relationship among the taxa associated with the Poecilimon affinis complex in the P. ornatus group (Chobanov and Heller 2010;Kociński 2020;Kociński et al 2021).…”

“…The latest findings using cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) barcodes showed the monophyly of the P. ornatus group (Kociński 2020). However, there is still an unclear relationship among the taxa associated with the Poecilimon affinis complex in the P. ornatus group (Chobanov and Heller 2010;Kociński 2020;Kociński et al 2021). Currently, the P. affinis complex includes P. nonveilleri, P. pseudornatus and five subspecies of P. affinis (P. a. affinis, P. a. hajlensis Karaman, 1974, P. a. serbicus Karaman, 1974, P. a. komareki Cejchan, 1957, P. a. dinaricus Ingrisch & Pavićević, 2010.…”