title: Phylogeography of Aglais urticae (Lepidoptera) based on DNA sequences of the mitochondrial COI gene and control region.
abstract: Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequences of the COI gene and the control region were used to examine the genetic population structure of Aglais urticae L. (Lepidoptera) over its entire geographic range, i.e., the Palaearctic. The phylogenetic relationships within and between A. urticae subspecies were determined and patterns of mtDNA divergence and ecological differentiation were compared. High gene flow together with a recent and sudden population expansion characterise the genetic population structure of this species. No geographically induced differentiation was observed, nor were subspecies identified as separate evolutionary units. The discrepancy between the genetic and ecological variation is most likely due to the slower rate of mtDNA evolution compared to ecological differentiation. The control region proved to be a less useful molecular marker for the population genetics and the phylogenetic reconstruction of closely related taxa in A. urticae than it has for other species. The extreme bias in adenine and thymine content (A+T=90.91%) probably renders this region highly susceptible to homoplasy, resulting in a less informative molecular marker.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Biodiversity Research, Catholic University Louvain, Place Croix du Sud 5, B-1348 Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium. vandewoestijne@ecol.ucl.ac.be
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Vandewoestijne
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Baguette
authors.forename: P M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Brakefield
authors.forename: I J
authors.initials: IJ
authors.lastname: Saccheri
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D002080:Butterflies / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000235:genetics*; D003576:Electron Transport Complex IV / Q000235:genetics*; D005843:Geography; D006239:Haplotypes / Q000235:genetics; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D012045:Regulatory Sequences, Nucleic Acid / Q000235:genetics*; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial; D003576:Electron Transport Complex IV