Nearctic Species in the Palearctic: Trans-Beringian Range, Phylogeny and Phylogeography of Pterostichus (Cryobius) mandibularoides (Coleoptera, Carabidae)

• Published in: Diversity
• Main Authors: Natalia Andreevna Zubrii, Boris Yurevich Filippov, Olga Arturovna Khruleva, Alexander Vasilevich Kondakov, Leonid Borisovich Rybalov
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute 2022
• Subjects: ground beetles; trans-Beringia range; Wrangel Island; Chukotka; phylogeny; phylogeography; Arctic; Tundra; Beringia
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.3390/d14060415

Subgenus Cryobius is one of the most numerous among the megafauna of tundra soils, but studies on its species distribution, taxonomy, and ecology are lacking. Phylogeny and phylogeography reconstructions of insects with taxonomic complexity have become possible using an integrative approach. Here, we report that specimens of Pterostichus (Cryobius) mandibularoides, described from North America, were detected in Eurasia. Thus, this species has a trans-Beringian range with high distributions in North America, as well as a disjunctive part of the range on the northeastern edge of Asia within Chukotka and Wrangel Island. Eight COI haplotypes with closed relationships (1–2 mutation steps) were detected within the whole range, and one 28S rRNA haplotype was detected for Eurasia. Bayesian phylogeny revealed that P. mandibularoides had the most recent common ancestor with sister species P. brevicornis and P. nivalis. Mean genetic distances of both markers were similar and higher between P. mandibularoides and both P. brevicornis and P. nivalis (>5% ± 1.0%) than between the latter species (<4% ± 1.0%). The obtained results change the previous view about brevicornis group stock differentiation within Cryobius in the Arctic and require a revision of the phylogeny and phylogeography of brevicornis group species and Cryobius altogether.