title: A comprehensive phylogeography of the Hyles euphorbiae complex (Lepidoptera: Sphingidae) indicates a 'glacial refuge belt'.
abstract: We test the morphology based hypothesis that the Western Palaearctic spurge hawkmoths represent two species, the Eurasian H. euphorbiae and Afro-Macaronesian H. tithymali. It has been suggested that these species merged into several hybrid swarm populations, although a mitochondrial phylogeography revealed substructure with local differentiation. We analysed a three-gene mt-dataset (889 individuals) and 12 microsatellite loci (892 individuals). Microsatellite analyses revealed an overall weak differentiation and corroborated the superordinate division into two clusters. The data indicate that the populations studied belong to only one species according to the biological species concept, refuting the opening hypothesis. A future taxonomic revision appears necessary to reflect the division into two subgroups. Ancestral mitochondrial polymorphisms are retained in H. euphorbiae, indicating gene flow within a broad 'glacial refuge belt' and ongoing postglacial gene flow. Diverse patterns of extensive mito-nuclear discordance in the Mediterranean and the Middle East presumably evolved by more recent processes. This discordance indicates introgression of H. tithymali-related mitochondrial haplogroups, accompanied (to a lesser degree) by nuclear alleles, into Italian and Aegean H. euphorbiae populations as recently as the late Holocene. The complex mosaic of divergence and reintegration is assumed to have been influenced by locally differing environmental barriers to gene flow.
authors.affiliation: Senckenberg Naturhistorische Sammlungen Dresden, Museum für Tierkunde, Königsbrücker Landstraße 159, D-01109 Dresden, Germany.|Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Johann-Friedrich-Blumenbach-Institut für Zoologie und Anthropologie, Abteilung für Morphologie, Systematik und Evolutionsbiologie, Berliner Str. 28, D-37073 Göttingen, Germany.|Biodiversität und Klima Forschungszentrum (BiK-F), Senckenberganlage 25, D-60325 Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
authors.forename: Michael B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Mende
authors.affiliation: Senckenberg Naturhistorische Sammlungen Dresden, Museum für Tierkunde, Königsbrücker Landstraße 159, D-01109 Dresden, Germany.
authors.forename: Manuela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bartel
authors.affiliation: Senckenberg Naturhistorische Sammlungen Dresden, Museum für Tierkunde, Königsbrücker Landstraße 159, D-01109 Dresden, Germany.|Biodiversität und Klima Forschungszentrum (BiK-F), Senckenberganlage 25, D-60325 Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
authors.forename: Anna K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Hundsdoerfer
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000235:genetics; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000235:genetics*; D030541:Databases, Genetic; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D051456:Gene Flow; D019083:Mediterranean Region; D018895:Microsatellite Repeats; D008877:Middle East; D009036:Moths / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics; D010802:Phylogeny; D058974:Phylogeography; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial