title: Phylogeography illuminates maternal origins of exotic Coptotermes gestroi (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae).
abstract: Coptotermes gestroi, the Asian subterranean termite (AST), is an economically important structural and agricultural pest that has become established in many areas of the world. For the first time, phylogeography was used to illuminate the origins of new found C. gestroi in the US Commonwealth of Puerto Rico; Ohio, USA; Florida, USA; and Brisbane, Australia. Phylogenetic relationships of C. gestroi collected in indigenous locations within Malaysia, Thailand, and Singapore as well as from the four areas of introduction were investigated using three genes (16S rRNA, COII, and ITS) under three optimality criteria encompassing phenetic and cladistic assumptions (maximum parsimony, maximum likelihood, and neighbor-joining). All three genes showed consistent support for a close genetic relationship between C. gestroi samples from Singapore and Ohio, whereas termite samples from Australia, Puerto Rico, and Key West, FL were more closely related to those from Malaysia. Shipping records further substantiated that Singapore and Malaysia were the likely origin of the Ohio and Australia C. gestroi, respectively. These data provide support for using phylogeography to understand the dispersal history of exotic termites. Serendipitously, we also gained insights into concerted evolution in an ITS cluster from rhinotermitid species in two genera.
authors.affiliation: Department of Entomology, University of Georgia, Griffin, GA 30223, USA. jenkinst@uga.edu
authors.forename: Tracie M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Jenkins
authors.forename: Susan C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Jones
authors.forename: Chow-Yang
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Brian T
authors.initials: BT
authors.lastname: Forschler
authors.forename: Zhenbang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Giancarlo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Lopez-Martinez
authors.forename: Nicola T
authors.initials: NT
authors.lastname: Gallagher
authors.forename: Graham
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Neal
authors.forename: Brian
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Thistleton
authors.forename: Scott
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kleinschmidt
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D025041:Animal Migration / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D001315:Australia; D021903:DNA, Ribosomal Spacer / Q000235:genetics; D005431:Florida; D050259:Genes, Mitochondrial; D005843:Geography; D020049:Isoptera / Q000235:genetics*; D009820:Ohio; D010802:Phylogeny; D011647:Puerto Rico; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000032:analysis / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D021903:DNA, Ribosomal Spacer; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S