Co1 DNA supports conspecificity of Geomyphilus pierai and G. barrerai (Coleoptera, Scarabaeidae, Aphodiinae) and is a good marker for their phylogeographic investigation in Mexican mountains

By

Arriaga Jiménez, Alfonsina
Roy, Lise

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2015

Original Publication

ZooKeys

Volume

512

Pages

77-88

Subjects

CO1 , dung beetles , ITS , Mexico , phylogeography , Pocket gophers

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Sofia, Bulgaria Pensoft Publishers

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.512.9646

 

Abstract

Members of Geomyphilus are associated with rodent burrows, such as pocket gophers and prairie dogs. In Mexico, they are found in the mountains of the Mexican Volcanic Belt and in Sierra Madre Oriental. Our study aims to initiate the exploration of the dispersal modes of Geomyphilus pierai and G. barrerai from burrows of pocket gophers. In order to estimate the dispersal scale of the beetles, the utility of mitochondrial and nuclear molecular markers for studying the phylogeographic structure of this complex of species (G. pierai and G. barrerai) was tested from 49 beetle individuals. High intraspecific and intra-mountain nucleotidic diversity was captured from this sample using Co1 mitochondrial sequences, whilst the ITS2 nuclear ribosomal sequence did not allow observing informative variation. Mitochondrial phylogenetic analysis revealed that the specific delineation between the two species under study was doubtful. In this preliminary study, Co1 was shown to be a good marker for elucidating dispersal routes of the burrowing rodent-associated beetles.