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Highly polytypic taxon complex: interspecific and intraspecific integrative taxonomic assessment of the widespread pollinator B ombus pascuorum S copoli 1763 ( H ymenoptera: A pidae)
Author(s) -
LECOCQ THOMAS,
BRASERO NICOLAS,
MARTINET BAPTISTE,
VALTEROVÀ IRENA,
RASMONT PIERRE
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.12137
Subject(s) - biology , taxon , population , intraspecific competition , interspecific competition , zoology , subspecies , reproductive isolation , evolutionary biology , ecology , demography , sociology
The recent development of the integrative taxonomic approach in bumblebees has led to unexpected merging or splitting of several taxa. Here we investigate the taxonomic statuses of one of the most abundant, widespread and polytypic P alearctic bumblebees, B ombus pascuorum . The latest review of this species includes 24 subspecies. We used an integrative approach based on genetic markers and male chemical reproductive traits and compared our results with the former classifications. Our results show that all B. pascuorum taxa are conspecific and share the same male chemical reproductive traits. The genetic structure observed in one mitochondrial and two nuclear markers poorly reflects the current subspecific classification. Indeed, the concordance of population genetic differentiation, population geographic distribution, and population colour pattern similarity suggests a different meaningful prospective classification with four taxon complexes: (i) the B. pascuorum dusmeti group, including all taxa from the I berian P eninsula and south‐west F rance; (ii) B. pascuorum rehbinderi ; (iii) B. pascuorum siciliensis ; and (iv) B. pascuorum floralis groups (including all other taxa studied here).