Mitochondrial COI and morphological specificity of the mealy aphids (Hyalopterus ssp.) collected from different hosts in Europe (Hemiptera, Aphididae)

By

Rakauskas, Rimantas
Havelka, Jekaterina
Zaremba, Audrius

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2013

Original Publication

ZooKeys

Volume

319

Pages

255-267

Subjects

Europe , H. persikonus , H. pruni , Hyalopterus amygdali , mitochondrial COI , molecular phylogeny , morphological key to species

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Sofia, Bulgaria Pensoft Publishers

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.319.4251

 

Abstract

Forty three European population samples of mealy aphids from various winter and summer host plants were attributed to respective species of Hyalopterus by means of their partial sequences of mitochondrial COI gene. Used Hyalopterus samples emerged as monophyletic relative to outgroup and formed three major clades representing three host specific mealy aphid species in the Neighbor joining, Maximum parsimony, Maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference trees. H. pruni and H. persikonus emerged as a sister species, whilst H. amygdali was located basally. Samples representing different clades in the molecular trees were used for canonical discrimination analysis based on twenty two morphological characters. Length of the median dorsal head hair enabled a 97.3 % separation of H. amygdali from the remaining two species. No single character enabled satisfactory discrimination between apterous viviparous females of H. pruni and H. persikonus. A modified key for the morphological identification of Hyalopterus species is suggested and their taxonomic status discussed.