| Summary: | This project is a study of two different species of Trichoptera: Apatania zonella and Potamophylax cingulatus. A. zonella is a circumpolar species which lives at high latitudes, in cold clear-water, streams, lakes and marshes. P.cingulatus is widely distributed in rivers in northern and central Europe. The aim of the study is to find the origin of the two Icelandic Trichoptera species, by comparing them with conspecifics from the neighbouring countries. Samples were obtained from Norway, Britain, Alaska, Greenland, Iceland and the Faeroes Islands. To study the genetic relationships, I sequenced a 1098 bp fragment of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) gene, a commonly used marker for such studies. The results show different result for the two species. The genealogy of A. zonella is clustered in several monophyletic groups representing geographical areas, and which are well differentiated. The population in Iceland is an exception, showing and admixture of two well differentiated lineages which have colonized Iceland, one from North America and the other from mainland Europe. P. cingulatus however does not show any variation within Iceland, its variation reflects a recent colonization, must likely from Britain via Faeroes Islands.
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