North-south and climate-landscape-associated pattern of population structure for the Atlantic Forest White Morpho butterflies{*}

Autor(es)

Pablos, Julia Leme ^[1] ; Silva, Ana Kristina ^[1] ; Seraphim, Noemy ^[2] ; Magaldi, Luiza de Moraes ^[1] ; de Souza, Anete Pereira ^[3] ; Lucci Freitas, Andre Victor ^[1] ; Silva-Brandao, Karina Lucas ^{[4, 3]}

Afiliação do(s) autor(es)

^[1] Univ Estadual Campinas, Inst Biol, Dept Biol Anim, Rua Monteiro Lobato 255, BR-13083862 Campinas, SP - Brazil

^[2] Inst Fed Educ Ciencia & Tecnol Sao Paulo, Campus Campinas, Rua Heitor Lacerda Guedes 1000, BR-13059581 Campinas, SP - Brazil

^[3] Univ Estadual Campinas, Ctr Biol Mol & Engn Genet, Av Candido Rondom 400, BR-13083875 Campinas, SP - Brazil

^[4] Univ Fed ABC, Ctr Ciencias Nat & Humanas, Av Estados 5001, BR-09210580 Santo Andre, SP - Brazil

• Tipo de documento: Artigo Científico
• Fonte: Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution; v. 161, AUG 2021.
• Citações Web of Science: 0

Resumo

Atlantic Forest White Morpho butterflies, currently classified as Morpho epistrophus and M. iphitus, are endemic to the Atlantic Forest, where they are widely distributed throughout heterogeneous environmental conditions. Studies with endemic butterflies allow to elucidate questions on both patterns of diversity distribution and current and past processes acting on insect groups in this biodiversity hotspot. In the present study, we characterized one mtDNA marker (COI sequences) and developed 11 polymorphic loci of microsatellite for 22 sampling locations distributed throughout the entire Atlantic Forest domain. We investigated both the taxonomic limits of taxa classified as White Morpho and the structure and distribution of the genetic diversity throughout their populations. Genetic markers and distribution data failed to identify species diversification, population structure, or isolation among subpopulations attributed to different taxa proposed for the White Morpho, suggesting that the current distinction between two species is unreasonable. The Bayesian coalescent tree based on COI sequences also failed to recover monophyletic clades for the putative species, and pointed instead to a north-south oriented pattern of genetic structure, with the northern clade coalescing later than the southern clade. Northern samples also showed more intragroup structure than southern samples based on mtDNA data. Clustering tests based on microsatellites indicated the existence of three genetic clusters, with turnover between the states of Paran ` a and Sa similar to o Paulo. The north-south pattern found for the White Morpho populations is showed for the first time to a endemic AF insect and coincides with the two different bioclimatic domains previously described for vertebrates and plants. Population structure observed for these butterflies is related to climate- and landscape-associated variables, mainly precipitation and elevation. (AU)

• Processo FAPESP: 11/00417-3 - Biologia de sistemas aplicada a agricultura: análise de transcriptomas e interactomas
• Beneficiário: Marcelo Mendes Brandao
• Modalidade de apoio: Auxílio à Pesquisa - Jovens Pesquisadores