Premium
Multiple abiotic factors correlate with parallel evolution in Australian soil burrowing cockroaches
Author(s) -
BeasleyHall Perry G.,
Lee Timothy R. C.,
Rose Harley A.,
Lo Nathan
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
journal of biogeography
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.7
H-Index - 158
eISSN - 1365-2699
pISSN - 0305-0270
DOI - 10.1111/jbi.13233
Subject(s) - abiotic component , ecology , guild , niche , biology , range (aeronautics) , ecological niche , phylogenetic tree , habitat , biochemistry , materials science , gene , composite material
Aim The ways in which abiotic factors contribute to parallel evolution—the evolution of similar, derived phenotypes in independent, closely related lineages—remain understudied. Australian cockroaches of the subfamilies Panesthiinae (“wood feeders”) and Geoscapheinae (“soil burrowers”) are two closely related groups that provide a striking example of parallel evolution of burrowing behaviour. The ancestral wood‐feeding panesthiines migrated from Asia ~20 million years ago before soil burrowing was independently acquired multiple times in the derived geoscapheines. Here, we investigate whether specific abiotic factors were associated with the parallel evolution of soil burrowing behaviour, and whether divergence events of geoscapheines from panesthiine ancestors are consistent with niche conservatism or divergence. Location The Australian mainland, including the areas in which selected Australian Panesthiinae and Geoscapheinae cockroach species are distributed. Methods We generated environmental niche models for members of the Australian Geoscapheinae and Panesthiinae using presence‐only data and abiotic variables related to temperature, precipitation, and soil composition from BioClim and the Australian Soil Resource Information System. We used an existing phylogenetic framework to compare environmental niche models and tested for niche conservatism versus divergence. Morphological convergence was assessed by a regression analysis and principal components analysis of leg segment and body dimensions in soil burrowers and wood feeders. Results We found no relationship between niche similarity and time since divergence, and only limited evidence for phylogenetic signal with respect to the environmental variables examined. We found that soil burrowing behaviour is consistently correlated with thirteen abiotic factors associated with aridity, including a wider range of temperatures and lower precipitation levels. Evidence for convergence in leg morphology and body dimensions across soil burrowers was found. Main conclusions Our results are consistent with soil burrowing behaviour evolving in response to ancient aridification events following the arrival of the Panesthiinae in Australia. Our results suggest a scenario of niche divergence between soil burrowers and each of their wood feeding sister taxa. There is evidence for morphological convergence on a “shovel‐like” protibiotarsus in the Geoscapheinae that would aid in burrowing into soil.