Abstract
The beetle subtribe Anthroherponina (Coleoptera: Leiodidae), including also ecologically specialized and semi-aquatic hygropetricolous genera, presents one of the most illustrative examples ...of morphological variability in cave-adapted animals. However, phylogenetic relations within the tribe remain dubious. Recent exploration of deep-phreatic caves of the Western Balkans Dinaric Karst enabled us to collect all known Anthroherponina genera and access new populations of hygropetricolous beetles, representatives of the iconic Hadesia and elusive Nauticiella. We studied the taxonomic structure of newly collected semi-aquatic beetle populations by using traditional morphology and deploying uni- and multilocus molecular species delimitation. In addition, we tested the monophyly of the subtribe Anthroherponina and set the group’s evolutionary development into a palaeogeographic context by reconstructing a multilocus calibrated phylogeny. As a result, three new species of specialized semi-aquatic beetles are described. The morphologically based monophyly of Anthroherponina was shown to be an artefact of evolutionary convergences, while the evolutionary development of the monophylum seems to be paired with the orogeny of the Dinarides. Finally, the new results raise more questions about our understanding of evolution in subterranean beetles and their adaptation to special ecological niches.
In the present study morphological and molecular data from specimens of the troglobitic genus Speoplanes have been examined. The two subspecies Speoplanes giganteus giganteus Müller, 1911 and ...Speoplanes giganteus biocovensis Müller, 1934 are changed in rank from subspecies to species level and discrete identification characters for the separation of the two species are provided. Additionally, all known localities of the species (including new records) are listed and a distribution map of the genus is provided.
Bathyscidius basarai D. Čeplík, Lakota J. Čeplík, sp. nov., is described from Shpella e Blazit cave, located near the village of Bruç in central Albania. The new species is illustrated, morphological ...comparison with other species, as well as the distribution, including the map for the whole genus Bathyscidius Jeannel, 1910 and information on its natural history is given. The new species is tentatively placed in the subgenus Ionobathyscidius Polak Jalžić, 2019. Basic zoogeography for the subtribe Bathysiotina Guéorguiev, 1974, with the main focus on taxa of the Balkan Peninsula is provided.
Research on subterranean organisms has focused on the colonization process and some of the associated phenotypic changes, but little is known on the long-term evolutionary dynamics of subterranean ...lineages and the origin of some highly specialized complex characters. One of the most extreme modifications is the reduction of the number of larval instars in some Leptodirini beetles from the ancestral 3 to 2 and ultimately a single instar. This reduction is usually assumed to have occurred independently multiple times within the same lineage and geographical area, but its evolution has never been studied in a phylogenetic framework. Using a comprehensive molecular phylogeny, we found a low number of independent origins of the reduction in the number of instars, with a single transition, dated to the Oligocene–Miocene, from 3 to 2 and then 1 instar in the Pyrenees, the best-studied area. In the Pyrenees, the 1-instar lineage had a diversification rate (0.22 diversification events per lineage per million years) significantly higher than that of 3- or 2-instar lineages (0.10), and similar to that seen in other Coleopteran radiations. Far from being evolutionary dead-ends, ancient lineages fully adapted to subterranean life seem able to persist and diversify over long evolutionary periods.
Three subterranean leptodirine leiodid taxa, viz., Bozidaria Ćurčić & Pavićević gen. nov., Bozidaria serbooccidentalis Ćurčić & Pavićević gen. et sp. nov. and Proleonhardella (Proleonhardella) ...tarensis Ćurčić & Pavićević sp. nov., are described and diagnosed. Bozidaria Ćurčić & Pavićević gen. nov. belongs to the phyletic series of “Leonhardella”. The new beetle taxa differ from their closest relatives in numerous morphological characters. They most likely belong to phyletic lineages of Pliocene age. The new leiodid taxa are endemic to the Dinaric mountain chain of western Serbia. Keys to the leptodirine leiodid genera of the phyletic series of “Leonhardella” and to the taxa of the genus Proleonhardella Jeannel, 1910 are included.
The first description of a larva and pupa of Platycholeus Horn, 1880; the only American representative of the otherwise Palaearctic tribe Leptodirini, is provided, illustrated and discussed in a ...systematic context. A combination of larval characters is consistent with the conclusion of recent molecular phylogenetic studies that have placed Platycholeus as the sister group of the rest of Leptodirini. Platycholeus represents most of the characters of the least specialised, classic type of Leptodirini larvae and pupae, according to the classification of Deleurance-Glaçon (1963).
Beetles are ubiquitous cave invertebrates worldwide that adapted to scarce subterranean resources when they colonized caves. Here, we investigated the potential role of gut microbiota in the ...adaptation of beetles to caves from different climatic regions of the Carpathians. The beetles' microbiota was host-specific, reflecting phylogenetic and nutritional adaptation. The microbial community structure further resolved conspecific beetles by caves suggesting microbiota-host coevolution and influences by local environmental factors. The detritivore species hosted a variety of bacteria known to decompose and ferment organic matter, suggesting turnover and host cooperative digestion of the sedimentary microbiota and allochthonous-derived nutrients. The cave Carabidae, with strong mandibula, adapted to predation and scavenging of animal and plant remains, had distinct microbiota dominated by symbiotic lineages Spiroplasma or Wolbachia. All beetles had relatively high levels of fermentative Carnobacterium and Vagococcus involved in lipid accumulation and a reduction of metabolic activity, and both features characterize adaptation to caves.
Aim To investigate the possibility of range expansion and diversification within the subterranean environment in a genus of troglobiont beetles of the family Leiodidae (Troglocharinus), which have a ...disjunct distribution between the Pyrenees and the Catalonian coast. Location North-eastern Iberian Peninsula. Methods We sequenced 4 kb of five mitochondrial and two nuclear genes of 50 specimens of 12 of the 18 species of Troglocharinus, plus several outgroups. We reconstructed a phylogeny using Bayesian inference and maximum likelihood, estimated divergence times using Bayesian probabilities and an a priori evolutionary rate, compared the diversification of the main clades within the genus, and reconstructed their ancestral distribution using maximum likelihood. Results We found strong support for the monophyly of Troglocharinus and the clades in each of the geographical areas, which diverged in the early Pliocene. The coastal clade was further divided into geographically well-defined lineages, separated by Quaternary deposits. The origin of the coastal clade was a single colonization in the early Pliocene from the central Pyrenees. The diversification of the Pyrenean clade followed a constant rate, while the diversification rate of the coastal clade significantly decreased through the Plio-Pleistocene transition. Main conclusions Troglocharinus expanded its range from its ancestral area in the central Pyrenees to the coast of Catalonia and subsequently diversified, probably within the subterranean environment. Our favoured scenario is a stepping-stone migration, with possibly short-distance dispersals through the surface, along the eastern margin of the north-eastern Ebro basin. The range expansion took place in a narrow temporal window with favourable conditions between the early Pliocene and the onset of the Mediterranean climate by the mid-Pliocene. Surface dispersal was probably severely limited afterwards, as shown by the fragmentation of the coastal lineage.
Reinholdina deelemanorum Giachino & Moravec, 2009 is a junior synonym of Parapropus neumanni Müller, 1911. The genus Reinholdina Giachino & Moravec, 2009 is placed in the synonymy with Parapropus ...Ganglbauer, 1899.
A new leptodirine leiodid beetle species, Pholeuonopsis (Pholeuonopsis) sljivovicensis sp. n., from a cave in western Serbia is described and diagnosed. The views of both male and female genitalia ...and other taxonomically important characters are imaged. The new species is clearly distinct from the closest relatives. It probably belongs to an old phyletic lineage of Mesogeid origin, like other known Pholeuonopsis taxa from the western part of the Balkan Peninsula. The new species is both an endemic and a relict inhabiting solely western Serbia. Morphological comparisons among the Serbian Pholeuonopsis species are provided, together with a key to the species. The genus Serbopholeuonopsis B. Ćurčić & Boškova, 2002 is regarded as a junior synonym of the genus Pholeuonopsis Apfelbeck, 1901.
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