Evolution and Biogeographic History of Rubyspot Damselflies (Hetaerininae: Calopterygidae: Odonata)

The damselflies Hetaerininae, a subfamily of Calopterygidae, comprise four genera distributed from North to South America: Hetaerina, Mnesarete, Ormenophlebia and Bryoplathanon. While several studies have focused on the intriguing behavioral and morphological modifications within Hetaerina, little of the evolutionary history of the group is well understood. Understanding the biogeographical history of Hetaerininae is further complicated by uncertainty in important geological events, such as the closure of the Central American Seaway (CAS). We generated a phylogenetic hypothesis to test the relationships and divergence times within Hetaerininae using IQtree and BEAST2 and found that Mnesarete and Ormenophlebia render Hetaerina paraphyletic. Reclassification of the genera within Hetaerininae is necessary based on our results. We also tested the fit to our dataset of two different hypotheses for the closure of CAS. Our results supported a gradual closure, starting in the Oligocene and ending in the Pliocene. Using Ancestral Character State Reconstruction, we found that the rubyspot, which is associated with higher fecundity in several species, was ancestral for Hetaerininae and subsequently lost four times. Estimates of diversification in association with the rubyspot are needed to understand the plasticity of this important character. Forest habitat was the ancestral state for Hetaerininae, with transitions to generalist species of Hetaerina found primarily in the Mesoamerican region. These results add to our understanding of the relationship between morphology, biogeography and habitat in a charismatic group of damselflie

Evidencia genética y morfológica de especiación críptica en hetaerina americana (odonata)

Ciencias Biológica

Hetaerina calverti (Odonata: Zygoptera: Calopterygidae) sp. nov., a new cryptic species of the American Rubyspot complex

Vega-Sánchez, Yesenia Margarita, Mendoza-Cuenca, Luis Felipe, Rodríguez, Antonio González- (2020): Hetaerina calverti (Odonata: Zygoptera: Calopterygidae) sp. nov., a new cryptic species of the American Rubyspot complex. Zootaxa 4766 (3): 485-497, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4766.3.

Hetaerina SNPs data for: Genomic differentiation and niche divergence in the Hetaerina americana (Odonata) cryptic species complex

<p class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst"><span>The evolution of reproductive barriers, that is, the speciation process, implies the limitation of gene flow between populations. Different patterns of genomic differentiation throughout the speciation continuum may provide insights into the causal evolutionary forces of species divergence. In this study, we analyzed a cryptic species complex of the genus <em>Hetaerina</em> (Odonata). This complex includes <em>H. americana</em> and <em>H. calverti</em>; however, in <em>H. americana</em>, two highly differentiated genetic groups have been previously detected, which, we hypothesize, may correspond to different species with low morphological variation. We obtained single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) data for 90 individuals belonging to the different taxa in the complex and carried out differentiation tests to identify genetic isolation. The results from STRUCTURE and discriminant analysis of principal components (DAPC), based on almost 5,000 SNPs, confirmed the presence of three highly differentiated taxa. Also, we found <em>F</em><sub>ST </sub>values above 0.5 in pairwise comparisons, which indicates a considerable degree of genetic isolation among the suggested species. We also found </span><span>low climatic niche overlap among all taxa, suggesting that each group occurs at specific conditions of temperature, precipitation and elevation</span><span>. We propose that <em>H. americana</em> comprises two cryptic species, which may be reproductively isolated by ecological barriers related to niche divergence, since the morphological variation is minimal and, therefore, mechanical barriers are probably less effective compared to other related species such as <em>H. calverti</em>.</span></p><p>Funding provided by: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México<br>Crossref Funder Registry ID: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100005739<br>Award Number: </p&gt