engleski

Phylogeny and phylogeography of genus Elmis (Coleoptera, Elmidae) in karstic running waters in southeastern Europe

Elmidae is a water beetles family poorly studied in southeastern Europe, so phylogenetic and phylogeographic data are very scarce. Representatives of the family were collected in various freshwater habitats in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Macedonia, while Austrian representatives were used for needed comparisons. Using standard genetic markers (ITS1, COI and COII) we revealed sister group of Elmis aenea and E. rioloides together being related to E. bosnica. E. maugetii maugetii forms a separate branch, while position of E. obscura could not be affirmed with high support. In addition, E. aenea and E.rioloides collected in Cetina River showed morphological variations from Central European representatives. Therefore, the main aim of this study was to analyse whether the observed differences can be confirmed at the molecular level. E. aenea shows high molecular homogeny across all sampled populations in respect to both morphological features and locations. On contraire, screening of E. rioloides specimens indicated the separation of population from the Cetina River from typical representatives of Central European fauna, supporting the hypothesis that this is a complex species. By molecular dating we calculated that E. rioloides separated from Central European representatives in the Pleistocene. This is consistent with the observation of the importance of Pleistocene refugia in speciation processes in the Southeastern Europe.

water beetles; Elmidae; complex species; Balkan; Pleistocene

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