Subject Editor: Vazrick Nazari
A detailed study of specimens from several regions of the distribution of
We examined
The examined material originates from numerous collections and was provided by museum curators as well as by private collectors. A list of examined material is given in the
Genitalia of both sexes were dissected in order to study morphological variability. Phallus and valvae were removed from the genitalia capsule (uncus-tegumen-vinculum with saccus) during dissection. The ring-shaped connection of tegumen-vinculum was not cut laterally but kept intact. Drawings (all at the same scale) were made from genitalia of the two taxa and their variation was compared.
For the molecular investigation of relationships between
Sequence alignment was carried out manually with PhyDE 0.9971 (
In order to examine the distributional pattern of
coll. Arenberger – Ernst Arenberger, Vienna, Austria
coll. Bengtsson – Bengt Å. Bengtsson, Färjestaden, Sweden
coll. Schmitz – Willibald Schmitz, Bergisch-Gladbach, Germany
ETHZ – Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule, Zürich, Switzerland
FMNH – Finnish Museum of Natural History, Helsinki, Finland
HNHM – Hungarian National History Museum, Budapest, Hungary
LMAD – Löbbecke Museum und Aquazoo, Düsseldorf, Germany
MNG – Museum der Natur, Gotha, Germany
MTD – Museum für Tierkunde, Senckenberg Naturhistorische Sammlungen Dresden, Germany
NHMB – Naturhistorisches Museum Basel, Switzerland
NHRS – Naturhistoriska Riksmuseet, Stockholm, Sweden
NMEG – Naturkundemuseum, Erfurt, Germany
NMPC – National Museum (Natural History), Prague, Czech Republic
NMW – Naturhistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria
SDEI – Senckenberg Deutsches Entomologisches Institut, Müncheberg, Germany
SMNK – Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde, Karlsruhe, Germany
SMNS – Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde, Stuttgart, Germany
TLMF – Tiroler Landesmuseum Ferdinandeum, Innsbruck, Austria
ZIN – Zoological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, Russia
ZMHB – Museum für Naturkunde der Humboldt-Universität, Berlin, Germany
ZMUC – Zoological Museum, Copenhagen, Denmark
ZSM – Zoologische Staatssammlung, Munich, Germany
The two taxa do not differ in superficial appearance (see
Male genitalia of
Male genitalia of
Variability in costa shape.
Female genitalia.
According to
In most cases the cornuti are in a more or less compact cluster, concentrated in the proximal fourth of the phallus, but in some cases the area of cornuti in the vesica covers the second- to third-fourth of the phallus length. The vesica of
The shape of the narrow socii allows for an easier differentiation. In
The female genitalia of the two taxa also exhibit some structural differences: in
In order to evaluate the significance of the investigated morphological characters for defining the taxonomic status of the two taxa it was deemed important to include a third taxon into the treatment,
Male genitalia of
The barcode sequences length was 591–658 bp (see
DNA barcoding specimen information.
Taxon | DNA specimen voucher | Origin, date, collector | Sequence length | GenBank accession no. |
---|---|---|---|---|
|
MTD Lep1073 | Italy, Piedmont, Valdieri, reserve, 850m 29.–30.vi.2008, leg. O. Karsholt | 612 bp |
|
ZSM Lep 27010 | Germany, Bavaria, Oberpfalz, Nittendorf, 400m, 08.vi.1994, leg. A. Segerer | 658 bp |
|
|
TLMF Lep 05228 | Macedonia, Mavrovo NP, Korab, summit ridge, 2700m, 28.vii.2011, leg. P. Huemer & G. Tarmann | 658 bp |
|
|
TLMF Lep 05229 | Macedonia, Mavrovo NP, Korab, summit ridge, 2700m, 28.vii.2011, leg. P. Huemer & G. Tarmann | 658 bp |
|
|
|
MTD Lep1071 | Croatia, Istria, Belavići, Marčana, 08.–14.ix.2008, leg. W. Mey | 612 bp |
|
MTD Lep1072 | Croatia, Istria, Belavići, Marčana, 08.–14.ix.2008, leg. W. Mey | 612 bp |
|
|
MTD Lep1074 | Italy, Lucania, Mt. Pollino, 780m, 03.x.2010, leg. P. Skou | 612 bp |
|
|
MTD Lep1075 | Italy, Lucania, Mt. Pollino, 780m, 03.x.2010, leg. P. Skou | 612 bp |
|
|
MTD Lep1076 | SW Bulgaria, Pirin Sandanski, Ilindentsi, 500m, 28.iii.–04.iv.2011, leg. N. Savenkov | 612 bp |
|
|
MTD Lep1077 | SW Bulgaria, Pirin Sandanski, Ilindentsi, 500m, 28.iii.–04.iv.2011, leg. N. Savenkov | 612 bp |
|
|
MTD Lep1078 | SW Bulgaria, Pirin, Sandanski, Ploski, 250m, 17.–31.v.2010, leg. N. Savenkov | 612 bp |
|
|
MTD Lep1079 | SW Bulgaria, Pirin Sandanski, Ilindentsi, 500m, 28.iii.–04.iv.2011, leg. N. Savenkov | 612 bp |
|
|
MTD Lep1080 | SW Bulgaria, Pirin, Sandanski, Ploski, 250m, 17.–31.v.2010, leg. N. Savenkov | 591 bp |
|
|
|
MTD Lep1081 | Russia, Siberia, Chita, Ingoda river, 27.vii.1997, leg. I. Kostjuk | 612 bp |
|
In the NJ analysis we obtained two clusters comprising 6 and 7 samples, respectively (
NJ dendrogram, based on uncorrected-p distances; scale bar represents 2.0% uncorrected-p distance.
Intraspecific divergences within
Uncorrected-p sequence divergence matrix with divergence values as percentage.
1081 |
1073 |
27010 |
05228 |
05229 |
1071 |
1072 |
1074 |
1075 |
1076 |
1077 |
1078 |
1079 |
|
2.941 | |||||||||||||
3.083 | 0.168 | ||||||||||||
3.100 | 1.476 | 1.672 | |||||||||||
2.922 | 1.299 | 1.520 | 0.760 | ||||||||||
2.451 | 1.144 | 1.295 | 0.654 | 0.477 | |||||||||
2.451 | 1.144 | 1.295 | 0.654 | 0.477 | 0.000 | ||||||||
2.941 | 1.307 | 1.465 | 0.822 | 0.000 | 0.490 | 0.490 | |||||||
2.941 | 0.327 | 0.490 | 1.477 | 1.300 | 1.144 | 1.144 | 1.307 | ||||||
2.778 | 0.163 | 0.326 | 1.313 | 1.136 | 0.980 | 0.980 | 1.144 | 0.163 | |||||
2.941 | 1.307 | 1.465 | 0.822 | 0.323 | 0.490 | 0.490 | 0.327 | 1.307 | 1.144 | ||||
2.941 | 0.000 | 0.168 | 1.476 | 1.299 | 1.144 | 1.144 | 1.307 | 0.327 | 0.163 | 1.307 | |||
2.941 | 0.000 | 0.168 | 1.476 | 1.299 | 1.144 | 1.144 | 1.307 | 0.327 | 0.163 | 1.307 | 0.000 | ||
3.045 | 0.000 | 0.172 | 1.528 | 1.351 | 1.187 | 1.187 | 1.359 | 0.338 | 0.170 | 1.356 | 0.000 | 0.000 |
The map of the investigated taxa (
Distribution map of
In Croatia and in Macedonia both taxa occur sympatrically. Additional sympatrical distribution might be present in Italy, where
The comparison of genital morphology between the two species reveals broad concordance of the investigated structures. Only one differing feature was found between
The analysis of DNA Barcodes reveals that the range of interspecific Barcode divergence between
Until further molecular work with much greater specimen sampling, focusing on establishing reasons behind the two DNA barcoding clusters (e.g., incomplete lineage sorting;
The study was only possible through the kind support of numerous entomologists by loaning material of the examined taxa. For this important help we thank the custodians of the museums listed in the Abbreviations section as well as Ernst Arenberger (Vienna, Austria), Bengt Å. Bengtsson (Färjestaden, Sweden), Hartmut Roweck (Kiel, Germany) and Willibald Schmitz (Bergisch-Gladbach, Germany). For the provision of DNA Barcoding data and the respective specimens for their use in this study we thank Peter Huemer (Innsbruck, Austria) and Andreas Segerer (Munich, Germany). We thank Matthias Nuss for the support of the molecular analyses in the DNA laboratory of the MTD and Christian Kutzscher (SDEI Müncheberg) for making the colour picture. We are also thankful to the reviewers for their valuable comments.
A list of examined specimens of