Climatic oscillation promoted diversification of spinous assassin bugs during Pleistocene glaciation

作者：Zhenyong Du, Qian Zhao, Xuan Wang, Teiji Sota, Li Tian, Fan Song, Wanzhi Cai, Ping Zhao, Hu Li · 发表于：Evolutionary Applications · 年份：2023 · DOI：10.1111/eva.13543 · 被引用次数：19 · 研究领域：Species Distribution and Climate Change、Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies、Insect and Arachnid Ecology and Behavior

Abstract Insect speciation is among the most fascinating topics in evolutionary biology; however, its underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Allopatric speciation represents one of the major types of speciation and is believed to have frequently occurred during glaciation periods, when climatic oscillation may have caused suitable habitats to be fragmented repeatedly, creating geographical isolation among populations. However, supporting evidence for allopatric speciation of insects in East Asia during the Pleistocene glaciation remains lacking. We aim to investigate the effect of climatic oscillation during the Pleistocene glaciation on the diversification pattern and evolutionary history of hemipteran insects and to test the hypothesis of Pleistocene species stability using spinous assassin bugs Sclomina (Hemiptera: Reduviidae), a small genus widely distributed in southern China but was later found to have cryptic species diversity. Here, using the whole mitochondrial genome (mitogenome) and nuclear ribosomal RNA genes, we investigated both interspecific and intraspecific diversification patterns of spinous assassin bugs. Approximate Bayesian computation, ecological niche modeling, and demographic history analyses were also applied to understand the diversification process and driven factors. Our data suggest that the five species of Sclomina are highly diverged, despite three of them currently being cryptic. Speciation occurred during the Pleistocene when suitable distribut...