The origin of the giant ground beetle<i>Aplothorax burchelli</i>on St Helena Island

  • Teiji Sota
    Department of Zoology, Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University , Sakyo, Kyoto, Japan
  • Michio Hori
    Kyoto University , Sakyo, Kyoto, Japan
  • Clarke Scholtz
    Department of Zoology and Entomology, University of Pretoria , Pretoria, Republic of South Africa
  • Gayane Karagyan
    Scientific Center of Zoology and Hydroecology, National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia , Yerevan, Armenia
  • Hong-Bin Liang
    Institute of Zoology , Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
  • Hiroshi Ikeda
    Faculty of Agriculture and Life Science, Hirosaki University , Hirosaki, Japan
  • Yasuoki Takami
    Graduate School of Human Development and Environment, Kobe University , Nada, Kobe, Japan

抄録

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>Some highly isolated oceanic islands harbour endemic ground beetles that have lost the ability to fly. Here, we investigated the origin of the possibly extinct flightless giant ground beetle Aplothorax burchelli on St Helena Island in the South Atlantic. Aplothorax burchelli was initially considered to be a member of the subtribe Calosomina (=genus Calosoma) of the subfamily Carabinae (Coleoptera: Carabidae) closely related to the genus Ctenosta (=Calosoma subgenus Ctenosta), but this proposition was questioned due to its unique external and genital morphology. We conducted a phylogenetic analysis of mitogenome sequences using historical specimens of A. burchelli and samples of representative species of Carabinae. Our analysis of 13 protein-coding gene sequences revealed that A. burchelli is definitely a member of Calosomina, most closely related to a species of Ctenosta. Further analysis using NADH dehydrogenase subunit 5 gene sequences from most groups in Calosomina showed that A. burchelli formed a monophyletic group with Ctenosta species from Africa and Madagascar. Our results suggest that the ancestor of A. burchelli, which had the ability to fly, colonized St Helena from Africa after the emergence of the island 14 Mya, and has since undergone evolutionary changes in conjunction with loss of flight.</jats:p>

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