Open AccessPhylogeny and species delimitation of the genus Longgenacris and Fruhstorferiola viridifemorata species group (Orthoptera: Acrididae: Melanoplinae) based on molecular evidence
Author(s) -
Jingxiao Gu,
Jiang Bo,
Haojie Wang,
Wei Tao,
Li-Liang Lin,
Yuan Huang,
JinShun Huang
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
plos one
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.99
H-Index - 332
ISSN - 1932-6203
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0237882
Subject(s) - biology , phylogenetic tree , internal transcribed spacer , subfamily , coalescent theory , molecular phylogenetics , zoology , phylogenetics , dna barcoding , genus , evolutionary biology , acrididae , orthoptera , genetics , gene
Phylogenetic positions of the genus Longgenacris and one of its members, i.e. L . rufiantennus are controversial. The species boundaries within both of L . rufiantennus + Fruhstorferiola tonkinensis and F . viridifemorata species groups are unclear. In this study, we explored the phylogenetic positions of the genus Longgenacris and the species L . rufiantennus and the relationships among F . viridifemorata group based on the 658-base fragment of the mitochondrial gene cytochrome c oxidase subunit I ( COI ) barcode and the complete sequences of the internal transcribed spacer regions ( ITS1 and ITS2 ) of the nuclear ribosomal DNA. The phylogenies were reconstructed in maximum likelihood framework using IQ-TREE. K2P distances were used to assess the overlap range between intraspecific variation and interspecific divergence. Phylogenetic species concept and NJ tree, K2P distance, the statistical parsimony network as well as the generalized mixed Yule coalescent model (GMYC) were employed to delimitate the species boundaries in L . rufiantennus + F . tonkinensis and F . viridifemorata species groups. The results demonstrated that the genus Longgenacris should be placed in the subfamily Melanoplinae but not Catantopinae, and L . rufiantennus should be a member of the genus Fruhstorferiola but not Longgenacris . Species boundary delimitation confirmed the presence of oversplitting in L . rufiantennus + F . tonkinensis and F . viridifemorata species groups and suggested that each group should be treated as a single species.