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Male cerci variability was used as the main source of information to separate taxonomic units in the genus Pseudochelidura. Based on these data it was considered that three species of Pseudochelidura coexisted in the Pyrenees: P. sinuata, P. minor and P. montuosa. However, our phylogeographic and phylogenetic analyses based on molecular data (mitochondrial cytb and nuclear ITS2) do not support those conclusions. Combining these analyses with morphological studies we concluded that: 1) the Pyrenees are inhabited by a single evolutionary unit: P. sinuata (Germar, 1825) (= P. minor Steinmann, 1979 syn. nov., = P. montuosa Steinmann, 1981 syn. nov.). 2) Cantabrian and Pyrenean populations are reciprocally monophyletic and morphologically diagnosable representing two independent evolutionary units: Pseudochelidura cantabrica Cuesta-Segura, Jurado-Angulo & García-París sp. nov. and P. sinuata. And, 3) their conservation status needs to be evaluated in the light of current taxonomic changes. We have shown that the use of male cerci for species identification is problematic. Patterns of variation possibly affected by sexual selection (e.g., intrapopulational variability) appear to be very difficult to separate from variation driven by natural selection or genetic drift (i.e., character divergence in geographical isolation). The large sequence divergence observed between Pyrenean and Cantabrian populations of Pseudochelidura suggest a lasting genetic and geographic isolation between them, rendering difficult to ascertain their phylogenetic relationships.
Systematics of the Sierra Nevada endemic earwig: Eulithinus analis (Forficulidae, Dermaptera)
(2024)
Since the description of Eulithinus analis (Rambur, 1838) the taxonomic position of this Sierra Nevada endemic earwig has been controversial. It has been subdivided in different taxa, assigned to various genera or transferred to different subfamilies. With the aim of clarifying its systematics, we performed a mitochondrial phylogeographic analysis using specimens from different localities of Sierra Nevada representing the diverse phenotypes treated as differentiated taxa until now, and a phylogenetic analysis including representatives of apparently distant, but morphologically close, relatives. The phylogenetic and phylogeographic results obtained using mitochondrial (cytb, cox1) and nuclear (ITS2) markers and the study of morphological characters, indicate that the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range harbors a single species of the genus Eulithinus. Based on these molecular data, the morphological characters used to date in the internal taxonomy of this group of earwigs, especially size and shape of the cerci, lack diagnostic validity and show a large inter- and intra-populational variability. These results imply the synonymy of Eulithinus montanus (Steinmann, 1981) with Eulithinus analis (Rambur, 1838) syn. nov. and the reconsideration of Eulithinus analis outside the subfamily Allodahliinae. We established the synonymy between Eulithinus analis (Rambur, 1838) and Forficula brevis Rambur, 1838 syn. nov., a name that must be removed from the synonymy of Forficula decipiens Gené, 1832.