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- Title
The EU protected taxon Morimus funereus Mulsant, 1862 (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) and its western Palaearctic allies: systematics and conservation outcomes.
- Authors
Solano, Emanuela; Mancini, Emiliano; Ciucci, Paolo; Mason, Franco; Audisio, Paolo; Antonini, Gloria
- Abstract
Morimus funereus is a large longhorn beetle included in the European Habitats Directive and in previous releases of the IUCN red list. It represents a flagship species of old-growth forest saproxylic communities in E and SE Europe. The morphologically based taxonomy of W Palaearctic Morimus is rather unstable due to high phenetic intrapopulational and geographic variability and different authors have attempted to recognise one to five different taxa of specific/subspecific rank. No previous molecular data are available for the genus Morimus. Here, for the first time, a molecular approach based on COI and ITS2 gene sequences was applied in European and Anatolian Morimus specimens. The genetic variability among Euro-Anatolian Morimus populations and the geographical structure suggest that they can not be ascribed to the currently accepted five W Palaearctic Morimus species and may actually represent a single, genetically and morphologically variable biological species ( M. asper), highlighting the necessity of an extended taxonomical revision. In light of these results, a phylogeographical hypothesis of postglacial colonisation of the central Mediterranean area has been developed and the consequences of this new taxonomic arrangement regarding conservation strategies for ' Morimus funereus' and allied taxa in Europe and Turkey are discussed.
- Subjects
EUROPE; TURKEY; BEETLES; MOLECULAR biology; NUCLEOTIDE sequence; ANIMAL genetics; ANIMAL classification
- Publication
Conservation Genetics, 2013, Vol 14, Issue 3, p683
- ISSN
1566-0621
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1007/s10592-013-0461-3