Revision of Mecinus heydenii species complex (Curculionidae): integrative taxonomy reveals multiple species exhibiting host specialization |
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Authors: | Ivo Toševski Roberto Caldara Jelena Jović Cosimo Baviera Gerardo Hernández‐Vera Andre Gassmann Brent C. Emerson |
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Affiliation: | 1. CABI, , 2800 Delémont, Switzerland;2. , 20146 Milan, Italy;3. Department of Plant Pests, Institute for Plant Protection and Environment, , 11080 Zemun, Serbia;4. Dipartimento di Biologia Animale ed Ecologia Marina, Università degli Studi di Messina, , 98122 Messina, Italy;5. School of Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia, , Norwich, NR4 7TJ UK;6. Island Ecology and Evolution Research Group, IPNA‐CSIC, , 38206 La Laguna, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain |
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Abstract: | A combined taxonomic, morphological, molecular and biological study revealed that the species presently named Mecinus heydenii is actually composed of five different species: M. heydenii Wencker, 1866; M. raphaelis Baviera & Caldara sp. n., M. laeviceps Tournier, 1873; M. peterharrisi To?evski & Caldara sp. n. and M. bulgaricus Angelov, 1971. These species can be distinguished from each other by a few subtle characteristics, mainly in the shape of the rostrum and body of the penis, and the colour of the integument. The first four species live on different species of Linaria plants, respectively, L. vulgaris (L.) P. Mill., L. purpurea (L.) P. Mill. L. genistifolia (L.) P. Mill. and L. dalmatica (L.) P. Mill., whereas the host plant of M. bulgaricus is still unknown. An analysis of mtCOII gene sequence data revealed high genetic divergence among these species, with uncorrected pairwise distances of 9% between M. heydenii and M. raphaelis, 11.5% between M. laeviceps, M. heydenii and M. raphaelis, while M. laeviceps and M. peterharrisi are approximately 6.3% divergent from each other. Mecinus bulgaricus exhibits even greater divergence from all these species and is more closely related to M. dorsalis Aubé, 1850. Sampled populations of M. laeviceps form three geographical subspecies: M. laeviceps laeviceps, M. laeviceps meridionalis To?evski & Jovi? and M. laeviceps corifoliae To?evski & Jovi?. These subspecies show clear genetic clustering with uncorrected mtDNA COII divergences of approximately 1.4% from each other. |
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