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Capelatus prykei gen. et sp.n. (Coleoptera: Dytiscidae: Copelatinae) – a phylogenetically isolated diving beetle from the Western Cape of South Africa
Author(s) -
BILTON DAVID T.,
TOUSSAINT EMMANUEL F. A.,
TURNER CLIVE R.,
BALKE MICHAEL
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
systematic entomology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.552
H-Index - 66
eISSN - 1365-3113
pISSN - 0307-6970
DOI - 10.1111/syen.12128
Subject(s) - biology , dytiscidae , cape , lineage (genetic) , clade , genus , zoology , mitochondrial dna , phylogenetics , critically endangered , ecology , endemism , taxon , endangered species , evolutionary biology , habitat , archaeology , geography , genetics , gene
Capelatus prykei gen. et sp.n. , a distinctive new lineage of copelatine diving beetle, is described from the greater Cape Town area of the Western Cape Province, South Africa, on the basis of both morphological and molecular data. The genus‐level phylogeny of Copelatinae is reconstructed using a combination of nuclear and mitochondrial DNA regions, demonstrating that Capelatus gen.n. has no close relatives within the Afrotropical region, instead forming a clade with the Palaearctic Liopterus and largely Australasian Exocelina . Capelatus gen.n. apparently represents a striking example of a phylogenetically isolated Cape lineage, which also appears to be narrowly endemic and endangered by ongoing habitat loss.