title: Cryptic biodiversity in the cytogenome of bird-biting blackflies in North Africa.
abstract: Bird-biting blackflies in the Simulium (Eusimulium) aureum group (Diptera: Simuliidae) are widespread vectors of Leucocytozoon and Trypanosoma parasites. The polytene chromosomes of 619 larvae of the three nominal members of the S. aureum group in North Africa were evaluated cytogenetically for cryptic biodiversity. Seven chromosomal segregates were discovered among 29 populations in Algeria and Morocco. This diversity was based primarily on two chromosomal inversions, which have assumed unique roles in different lineages, including sex linkage, fixation, loss and autosomal polymorphism. Reproductive isolation was demonstrated for six of the seven segregates, doubling the number of species known in the area. Four species were linked with existing names: (a) Simulium mellah Giudicelli & Bouzidi, which is known only from North African high-salinity habitats; (b) Simulium petricolum (Rivosecchi), which is tentatively conspecific with continental European populations; (c) Simulium rubzovianum (Sherban) and its synonym Simulium latinum (Rubtsov), which is widely distributed from North Africa across Europe into Western Asia, and (d) Simulium velutinum (Santos Abreu) and its new synonym Simulium tenerificum Crosskey, which is restricted to North Africa and the Canary Islands. Of the remaining entities, two are new species precinctive to North Africa and one, known only from Morocco, is of undetermined taxonomic status.
authors: Entomology Program, School of Agricultural, Forest and Environmental Sciences, Clemson University, Clemson, SC, U.S.A.
authors: P H
authors: PH
authors: Adler
authors: Laboratoire de Recherche et de Conservation des Zones Humides, Université 8 Mai 1945, Guelma, Algeria.
authors: M
authors: M
authors: Cherairia
authors: Département des Sciences de la Nature et de la Vie, Faculté des Sciences Exactes et des Sciences de la Nature et de la Vie, Université Mohamed Kheider, Biskra, Algeria.
authors: S F
authors: SF
authors: Arigue
authors: Laboratoire de Recherche et de Conservation des Zones Humides, Université 8 Mai 1945, Guelma, Algeria.|Centre of Excellence for Research in Biodiversity, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
authors: B
authors: B
authors: Samraoui
authors: Laboratoire Écologie, Biodiversité et Environnement, Département de Biologie, Université Abdelmalek Essaâdi, Tétouan, Morocco.
authors: B
authors: B
authors: Belqat
mesh_terms: D000352:Africa, Northern; D000818:Animals; D044822:Biodiversity; D001717:Birds / Q000502:physiology; D007446:Chromosome Inversion; D005260:Female; D020387:Food Chain; D049750:Genome, Insect; D007814:Larva / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development; D008297:Male; D059007:Polytene Chromosomes / Q000235:genetics; D012843:Simuliidae / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development
keywords: Algeria; Biodiversity; Morocco; cryptic species; phylogeny; polytene chromosomes; speciation