Molecular phylogeny and historical biogeography of the neotropical swarm-founding social wasp genus Synoeca (Hymenoptera: Vespidae)

The Neotropical Region harbors high biodiversity and many studies on mammals, reptiles, amphibians and avifauna have investigated the causes for this pattern. However, there is a paucity of such studies that focus on Neotropical insect groups. Synoeca de Saussure, 1852 is a Neotropical swarm-foundin...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2015-03, Vol.10 (3), p.e0119151-e0119151
Main Authors: Menezes, Rodolpho Santos Telles, Brady, Seán Gary, Carvalho, Antônio Freire, Del Lama, Marco Antonio, Costa, Marco Antônio
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Amphibia
Amphibians
Animals
Avifauna
Bayesian analysis
Biodiversity
Biogeography
Cell Nucleus - genetics
Dispersal
Divergence
DNA, Mitochondrial - genetics
Genetic aspects
Hymenoptera
Insects
Interspecific
Interspecific relationships
Mitochondria
Phylogenetics
Phylogeny
Phylogeography
Physiological aspects
Pleistocene
Rainforests
Reptiles
Studies
Synoeca
Vespidae
Wasps - anatomy & histology
Wasps - classification
Wasps - cytology
Wasps - genetics
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Summary:The Neotropical Region harbors high biodiversity and many studies on mammals, reptiles, amphibians and avifauna have investigated the causes for this pattern. However, there is a paucity of such studies that focus on Neotropical insect groups. Synoeca de Saussure, 1852 is a Neotropical swarm-founding social wasp genus with five described species that is broadly and conspicuously distributed throughout the Neotropics. Here, we infer the phylogenetic relationships, diversification times, and historical biogeography of Synoeca species. We also investigate samples of the disjoint populations of S. septentrionalis that occur in both northwestern parts of South America through Central American and the Brazilian Atlantic rainforests. Our results showed that the interspecific relationships for Synoeca could be described as follows: (S. chalibea + S. virginea) + (S. cyanea + (S. septentrionalis/S. surinama)). Notably, samples of S. septentrionalis and S. surinama collected in the Atlantic Forest were interrelated and may be the result of incomplete lineage sorting and/or mitochondrial introgression among them. Our Bayesian divergence dating analysis revealed recent Plio-Pleistocene diversification in Synoeca. Moreover, our biogeographical analysis suggested an Amazonian origin of Synoeca, with three main dispersal events subsequently occurring during the Plio-Pleistocene.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0119151