Cryptic diversity in the North American Dromochorus tiger beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae: Cicindelinae): a congruence-based method for species discovery

A fundamental problem in biodiversity science is determining the number of species in any taxon, and there is a growing awareness that cryptic diversity contributes to this problem – even in well-studied groups. Discovering cryptic species requires several lines of evidence to elucidate congruent patterns across data-types, and distinguish unrecognized species. Tiger beetles are among the most well-studied insect groups; yet few new North American species have been described since the mid-20th century, suggesting that that the number of morphologically distinct species is reaching an asymptote. We explore the possibility that more species exist in the fauna as cryptic species, by analysing a broad geographic sample of all species in the genus Dromochorus. We employ a ‘taxonomic congruence’ approach, where we first generate species hypotheses from patterns of reciprocal monophyly across the mitochondrial and nuclear datasets, and test these hypotheses through congruence with population structure, morphological measures and ecological divergence. We find broad congruence that supports eight species of Dromochorus, more than doubling the known diversity. We also validate a previously ambiguous taxon, and re-describe previously named species. Lastly, we identify new diagnostic morphological characters, include an updated dichotomous key and provide updated natural history/ecological characteristics for the genus and individual species

Phylogeography of the Coccus scale insects inhabiting myrmecophytic Macaranga plants in Southeast Asia

Comparative historical biogeography of multiple symbionts occurring on a common host taxa can shed light on the processes of symbiont diversification. Myrmecophytic Macaranga plants are associated with the obligate mutualistic symbionts: Crematogaster (subgenus Decacrema) ants and Coccus scale insects. We conduct phylogeographic analyses based on mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I (COI) from 253 scale insects collected from 15 locations in Borneo, Malaya and Sumatra, to investigate the historical biogeography of the scales, and then to draw comparisons with that of the symbiotic, but independently dispersing, Decacrema ants which are not specific to different Coccus lineages. Despite the different mode of ancient diversification, reconstruction of ancestral area and age estimation on the Coccus phylogeny showed that the scales repeatedly migrated between Borneo and Malaya from Pliocene to Pleistocene, which is consistent with the Decacrema ants. Just as with the ants, the highest number of lineages in the scale insects was found in northern northwest Borneo, suggesting that these regions were rainforest refugia during cool dry phases of the Pleistocene. Overall, general congruence between the Plio-Pleistocene diversification histories of the symbiotic scales and ants suggests that they experienced a common history of extinction/migration despite their independent mode of dispersal and host-colonization.ArticlePopulation ecology. 52(1):137-146 (2010)journal articl