Genetic differentiation of Liparus glabrirostris (Curculionidae: Molytinae) populations from the fragmented habitats of the Alps and Carpathian Mountains

Abstract

Populations of Liparus glabrirostris (Curculionidae: Molytinae), a weevil inhabiting higher altitudes of Central Europe, were sampled from 24 localities in the Alps and Carpathian Mountains, and the geographical structuring of genetic variation was analyzed. Comparison of the concatenated mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit I and subunit II sequences revealed consistent genetic divergence between the populations of L. glabrirostris from different mountain ranges. In phylogenetic analysis using maximum parsimony and median-joining networks, concatenated mitochondrial haplotypes from the Alps and Carpathians clustered as separate lineages, with high bootstrap support. Substantial genetic distances determined between the separated groups ranged from 2.6 to 3.0%, with divergence estimated to have initiated approximately 0.85-0.98 million years ago. The nuclear elongation factor 1 alpha gene was additionally amplified and haplotype analysis showed very low evolutionary divergence (0.2%), with separate clustering as well. The observed divergence suggests that the populations have been isolated for a long time, as a consequence of environmental changes resulting in varying fragmentation of habitats in the Alps and Carpathians, interrupting genetic exchange events and altering the genetic structure of L. glabrirostris populations. On the other hand, comparison of morphological characteristics showed no differences to confirm genetically well differentiated groups of populations. A polymerase chain reaction and restriction fragment length polymorphism-based method was therefore developed to discriminate between the Alpine and Carpathian lineages.