Three new species of the &lt;i&gt;Merodon nigritarsis&lt;/i&gt; group (Diptera: Syrphidae) from the Middle East

Petanidou

et al. 2016

Ecology and Evolution

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We investigated the phylogeographic patterns of Merodon species (Diptera, Syrphidae) in the Eastern Mediterranean. Ten species were sampled on five different islands and mainland sites as a minimum. All samples were screened for their mtDNA COI barcode haplotype diversity, and for some samples, we additionally generated genomic fingerprints. The recently established zoogeographic distribution categories classify these species as having (1) Balkan distribution; (2) Anatolian distribution; (3) continental areas and large islands distribution; and (4) with wide distribution. The ancestral haplotypes and their geographical localities were estimated with statistical parsimony (TCS). TCS networks identified as the ancestral haplotype samples that originated from localities situated within the distributional category of the species in question. Strong geographical haplotype structuring was detected for many Merodon species. We were particularly interested to test the relative importance of current (Aegean Sea) and past Mid‐Aegean Trench) barriers to dispersal for Merodon flies in the Aegean. We employed phylogenetic β‐diversity (Pβ total) and its partition in replacement (Pβ repl) and richness difference (Pβ rich) to test the importance of each explanatory variable (interisland distance, MAT, and island area) in interisland differences using partial Mantel tests and hierarchical partitioning of variation. β‐Analyses confirmed the importance of both current and past barriers to dispersal on the evolution of group. Current interisland distance was particularly important to explain the replacement of haplotypes, while the MAT was driving differences in richness of haplotypes, revealing the MAT as a strong past barrier whose effects are still visible today in the phylogenetic history of the clade in the Aegean. These results support the hypothesis of a highly restricted dispersal and gene flow among Merodon populations between islands since late Pleistocene. Additionally, patterns of phylogeographic structure deduced from haplotype connections and ISSR genome fingerprinting data revealed a few putative cases of human‐mediated transfers of Merodon spp.

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 82%

“…; Popov ; Vujić et al. ; , in preparation). During the course of these studies and more recently as part of the POL‐AEGIS project (Petanidou et al.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Phylogeographic patterns of Merodon hoverflies in the Eastern Mediterranean region: revealing connections and barriers

Ståhls

Petanidou

et al. 2016

Ecology and Evolution

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“…The genus Merodon Meigen, 1803 (Diptera: Syrphidae: Merodontini) has become the largest European hoverfly genus due to several recent studies describing many new taxa (Marcos-García et al 2007;Popov 2010;Radenković et al 2011;Vujić et al 2007Vujić et al , 2012Vujić et al , 2013aVujić et al , 2013bVujić et al , 2015. A considerable number (37 of 57 species in southeastern Europe) of the taxa are morphologically and/or genetically cryptic, with restricted distributional ranges in particular mountain ranges or islands (Vujić et al 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Defining species boundaries in the Merodon avidus complex (Diptera, Syrphidae) using integrative taxonomy, with the description of a new species

Ačanski

Djan

et al. 2016

EJT

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543

Abstract. Several recent studies have detected and described complexes of cryptic and sibling species in the genus Merodon (Diptera, Syrphidae). One representative of these complexes is the Merodon avidus complex that contains four sibling species, which have proven difficult to distinguish using traditional morphological characters. In the present study, we use two geometric morphometric approaches, as well as molecular characters of the 5'-end of the mtDNA COI gene, to delimit sibling taxa. Analyses based on these data were used to strengthen species boundaries within the complex, and to validate the status of a previously-recognized cryptic taxon from Lesvos Island (Greece), here described as Merodon megavidus Vujić & Radenković sp. nov. Geometric morphometric results of both wing and surstylus shape confirm the present classification for three sibling species-M. avidus (Rossi, 1790), M. moenium Wiedemann in Meigen, 1822 and M. ibericus Vujić, 2015-and, importantly, clearly discriminate the newly-described taxon Merodon megavidus sp. nov. In addition to our geometric morphometric results, supporting characters were obtained from molecular analyses of mtDNA COI sequences, which clearly differentiated M. megavidus sp. nov. from the other members of the M. avidus complex. Molecular analyses revealed that the earliest divergence of M. ibericus occurred around 800 ky BP, while the most recent separation happened between M. avidus and M. moenium around 87 ky BP.

“…In the last decade, a number of papers have been published on particular species groups, such as aureus , melanocerus , nanus , natans , nigritarsis , ruficornis (Milankov et al 2008a, Francuski et al 2009, 2011, Vujić et al 2012, 2013, 2015, Šašić et al 2016, Radenković et al, 2018). The Mediterranean fauna has been frequently studied (Mengual et al 2006, Marcos-García et al 2007, 2011, Petanidou et al 2011, Radenković et al 2011, Ricarte et al 2012, Ståhls et al 2009, 2016, Vujić et al 2007, 2011), whereas the Afrotropical Region with less than ten recognised species (Pape and Thompson 2013), has received less attention (Radenković et al 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Revision of the Palaearctic species of the Merodon desuturinus group (Diptera, Syrphidae)

Radenković

Likov

2018

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This revision of material belonging to the Merodon desuturinus group from the Palaearctic Region resulted in the delimitation of four species: Merodon cabanerensis Marcos-García, Vujić & Mengual, 2007; Merodon desuturinus Vujić, Šimić & Radenković, 1995; Merodon neolydicus Vujić, nom. n.; and Merodon murorum Fabricius, 1794. Merodon murorum is redescribed. A neotype for Merodon auripilus Meigen, 1830 is designated, which is a new junior synonym of Merodon murorum. The related Afrotropical species Merodon cuthbertsoni Curran, 1939 is re-evaluated and compared to its sibling Palaearctic taxon Merodon desuturinus. An identification key for the Merodon desuturinus group is provided.