Genetic variation corroborates subspecific delimitation in the Namib fog-basking beetle, (Haag) (Tenebrionidae, Coleoptera)
Author
Lamb, Trip; Pollard, Rachel; Bond, Jason E.
Abstract
The fog-basking beetle, Onymacris unguicularis (Haag, 1875), is currently listed as a polytypic form comprising two subspecies. A flightless substrate specialist, the beetleis endemic to vegetationless dunes in the Namib, where southern populations constitute the nominate subspecies, O. u. unguicularis, and populations some 300 km to the north compose O. u. schulzeae Penrith, 1984. Their taxonomic descriptions are based on minor differences in pronotal and prosternal shape, and the phylogenetic validity of these subspecies has yet to be ascertained. Here we reassess the polytypic status of O. unguicularis by (1) examining diagnostic phenotypic characters in conjunction with a geometric morphometric analysis, and (2) conducting phylogenetic analysis of mitochondrial DNA sequences. Our results confirm pronotal and prosternal differences, which are complemented by geometric morphometric resolution of the subspecies. Phylogenetic analysis recovered two reciprocally monophyletic lineages that exhibit perfect phylogeographic congruence with phenotypic variation. Our genetic data identify southern and northern populations as distinct lineages, corroborate morphometric data regarding subspecific delimitation, and therefore support the recognition of O. u. unguicularis and O. u. schulzeae as valid taxa under the general lineage concept.
Subject
Date
2013
Citation:
APA:
Lamb, Trip, & Pollard, Rachel, & Bond, Jason E.. (January 2013).
Genetic variation corroborates subspecific delimitation in the Namib fog-basking beetle, (Haag) (Tenebrionidae, Coleoptera).
ZooKeys,
(353),
47-
60. Retrieved from
http://hdl.handle.net/10342/5496
MLA:
Lamb, Trip, and Pollard, Rachel, and Bond, Jason E..
"Genetic variation corroborates subspecific delimitation in the Namib fog-basking beetle, (Haag) (Tenebrionidae, Coleoptera)". ZooKeys.
:353. (47-60),
January 2013.
November 29, 2023.
http://hdl.handle.net/10342/5496.
Chicago:
Lamb, Trip and Pollard, Rachel and Bond, Jason E.,
"Genetic variation corroborates subspecific delimitation in the Namib fog-basking beetle, (Haag) (Tenebrionidae, Coleoptera)," ZooKeys , no.
353 (January 2013),
http://hdl.handle.net/10342/5496 (accessed
November 29, 2023).
AMA:
Lamb, Trip, Pollard, Rachel, Bond, Jason E..
Genetic variation corroborates subspecific delimitation in the Namib fog-basking beetle, (Haag) (Tenebrionidae, Coleoptera). ZooKeys.
January 2013;
(353):
47-60.
http://hdl.handle.net/10342/5496. Accessed
November 29, 2023.
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