Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-xfwgj Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-24T10:01:38.289Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

An integrative phylogenetic analysis of eastern Nearctic Leuctra (Plecoptera: Leuctridae), with an emphasis on the fauna of a southern Appalachian Highlands landscape

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 February 2022

Madeline L. Metzger Open the ORCID record for Madeline L. Metzger [Opens in a new window] ,
Scott A. Grubbs Open the ORCID record for Scott A. Grubbs [Opens in a new window]  and
Jarrett R. Johnson
Madeline L. Metzger*
Affiliation:
Department of Biology and Center of Biodiversity Studies, Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, KY42101, United States of America
Scott A. Grubbs
Affiliation:
Department of Biology and Center of Biodiversity Studies, Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, KY42101, United States of America
Jarrett R. Johnson
Affiliation:
Department of Biology and Center of Biodiversity Studies, Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, KY42101, United States of America
*
*Corresponding author. Email: madeline.metzger141@topper.wku.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Leuctra Stephens, 1836 is the fourth most speciose genus of Plecoptera (Leuctridae) east of the Rocky Mountains with 31 recognised species, trailing only Isoperla Banks, 1906 (58), Allocapnia Claassen, 1928 (47), and Perlesta Banks, 1906 (34). Although Leuctra females are described in taxonomic literature, they are difficult to morphologically distinguish among regional congeners, and identifications are often made through inference only (i.e., presence of males). This is particularly problematic in the Appalachian Mountains of the United States of America, which host numerous Leuctra species. We sampled the stonefly fauna of Mount Mitchell, western North Carolina, United States of America, from April to October 2019. The mitochondrial cytochrome C oxidase subunit 1 gene was sequenced for 39 adult males and 239 adult females of Leuctra. This allowed us to confidently place species names on all of the latter individuals. Phylogenetic tree- and genetic distance–based methods consistently grouped females with males for nine recognised species. Two separate L. ferruginea (Walker, 1852) operational taxonomic units were recognised, albeit with low divergence values, and an additional undetermined Leuctra was identified based solely on females. Digital stereomicroscope images were taken from females of each species unit to identify variation among and between species. This approach allowed for a more robust assessment of regional biogeographic patterns.

Type
Research Paper
Information
The Canadian Entomologist , Volume 154 , Issue 1 , 2022 , e15
Check for updates
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Entomological Society of Canada

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

Subject editor: Lisa Lumley

References

Avelino-Capistrano, F., Nessimian, J.L., Santos-Mallet, J.R., and Takiya, D.M. 2014. DNA-based identification and descriptions of immatures of Kempnyia Klapálek (Insecta: Plecoptera) from Macaé River Basin, Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil. Freshwater Science, 33: 325–337. https://doi.org/10.1086/675226.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beaty, S.R. 2015. The Plecoptera of North Carolina: a biologist’s handbook for the identification of stonefly nymphs with standard taxonomic effort levels. Version 4.0. North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality, Division of Water Resources, Biological Assessment Branch. Raleigh, North Carolina, United States of America. 91 pp. Available from https://files.nc.gov/ncdeq/Water%20Quality/Environmental%20Sciences/BAU/Benthos%20Reference/BAB%20Taxonomy%20Doc%20-%20Plecoptera%20-%20version%204.1-%20complete.pdf [accessed 17 January 2020].Google Scholar
Bickford, D., Lohman, D.I., Sodhi, N.S., Ng, P.K.L., Meier, R., Winker, K., et al. 2007. Cryptic species as a window on diversity and conservation. Trends in Ecology and Evolution, 22: 148–155. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2006.11.004.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Boumans, L. and Baumann, R.W. 2012. Amphinemnura palmeni is a valid Holarctic stonefly species (Plecoptera: Nemouridae). Zootaxa, 3537: 59–75. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3537.1.5.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Calleja, M., Peña, P., Ugalde, C., Ferreiro, C., Marco, R., and Garesse, R. 1993. Mitochondrial DNA remains intact during Drosophila aging, but the levels of mitochondrial transcripts are significantly reduced. The Journal of Biological Chemistry, 25: 18891–18897. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0021-9258(17)46710-X.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Caterino, M.S. and Tishechkin, A.K. 2006. DNA identification and morphological description of the first confirmed larvae of Hetaeriinae (Coleoptera: Histeridae). Systematic Entomology, 31: 405–418. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-3113.2006.00338.x.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Claassen, P.W. 1923. New species of North American Plecoptera. The Canadian Entomologist, 55: 281–292. https://doi.org/10.4039/Ent55281-12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
DeWalt, R.E., Maehr, M.D., Neu-Becker, U., and Stueber, G. 2020. Plecoptera species file [online]. Available from http://Plecoptera.SpeciesFile.org [accessed 4 February 2021].Google Scholar
Felsenstein, J. 1985. Confidence limits on phylogenies: an approach using the bootstrap. Evolution, 39: 783–791. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1558-5646.1985.tb00420.x.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Folmer, O., Black, M., Hoeh, W., Lutz, R., and Vrijenhoek, R. 1994. DNA primers for amplification of mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I from diverse metazoan invertebrates. Molecular Marine Biology and Biotechnology, 3: 294–299. Available from https://asset-pdf.scinapse.io/prod/2172820226/2172820226.pdf [accessed 12 November 2019].Google ScholarPubMed
Gattolliat, J.L., Vinçon, G., Wyler, S., Pawlowski, J., and Sartori, M. 2016. Toward a comprehensive CO1 DNA barcode library for Swiss stoneflies (Insecta: Plecoptera), with special emphasis on the genus Leuctra . Zoosymposia, 11: 135–155. https://doi.org/10.11646/zoosymposia.11.1.15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gill, B.A., Kondratieff, B.C., Stark, B.P., and Sandberg, J.B. 2015a. The banded-wing Moselia infuscata (Claassen) phenotype from California and Oregon, USA (Plecoptera: Leuctridae). Zootaxa, 3911: 593–597. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3911.4.9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gill, B.A., Sandberg, J.B., and Kondratieff, B.C. 2015b. Evaluation of the morphological species concepts of 16 western Nearctic Isoperla species (Plecoptera: Perlodidae) and their respective species groups using DNA barcoding. Illiesia, 11: 130–146. Available from http://illiesia.speciesfile.org/papers/Illiesia11-11.pdf [accessed 8 February 2020].Google Scholar
Grubbs, S.A. 2010. Leuctra usdi n. sp., a new stonefly (Plecoptera: Leuctridae) of the L. tenuis (Pictet) species group from the southeastern U.S.A., plus three new Alabama state records. Zootaxa, 2498: 59–64. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.195776.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grubbs, S.A. 2015. Leuctra schusteri, a new stonefly species (Plecoptera: Leuctridae) of the L. tenuis (Pictet) group from the southeastern U.S.A. Illiesia, 11: 147–166. Available from http://illiesia.speciesfile.org/papers/Illiesia11-12.pdf [accessed 23 January 2020].Google Scholar
Grubbs, S.A., Metzger, M.L., and Wei, S. 2020. Systematics of eastern Nearctic Leuctra moha Ricker, 1952 with notes on L. hicksi Harrison & Stark, 2010 (Plecoptera: Leuctridae). Zootaxa, 4768: 361–373. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4768.3.3.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grubbs, S.A. and Sheldon, A.L. 2008. Allocapnia muskogee and A. menawa, new species of snowflies (Plecoptera: Capniidae) from the Talladega National Forest region of eastern Alabama, USA, plus four new state records. Illiesia, 4: 99–109. http://illiesia.speciesfile.org/papers/Illiesia04-11.pdf Google Scholar
Grubbs, S.A. and Wei, S. 2017. Morphological systematics of Leuctra duplicata Claassen, 1923 species group (Plecoptera: Leuctridae). Illiesia, 13: 57–67. Available from http://illiesia.speciesfile.org/papers/Illiesia13-05.pdf [accessed 23 January 2020].Google Scholar
Hanson, J. 1941. Records and descriptions of North American Plecoptera. Part 1. New species of Leuctra of the eastern United States. The American Midland Naturalist, 26: 174–178. Available from http://www.ohiostoneflies.org/Orig%20Refs/Hanson%2041∼Leuctra%20maria%20&%20L.%20alexanderi.pdf [accessed 27 January 2020].CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harper, P.P. and Harper, F. 1997. The genus Leuctra Stephens in North America: a preliminary report. In Ephemeroptera and Plecoptera: biology–ecology–systematics. Edited by P. Landolt and M. Sartori. Mauron, Tinguely and Lachat, SA, Fribourg, Switzerland. Pp. 467–472.Google Scholar
Harper, P.P. and Harper, F. 2003. Comparison of Nearctic and Palaerctic species groups of Leuctra: affinities and origin of the North America fauna (Plecoptera: Leuctridae). In Research Update on Ephemeroptera and Plecoptera. Edited by E. Gaino. University of Perugia, Italy. Pp. 219–223.Google Scholar
Harrison, A.B. and Stark, B.P. 2010. Two new species of stoneflies in the Leuctra ferruginea group (Plecoptera: Leuctridae), with notes on the Leuctra species known for Mississippi and Alabama, U.S.A. Illiesia, 6: 16–33. Available from http://illiesia.speciesfile.org/papers/Illiesia06-03.pdf [accessed 23 January 2020].Google Scholar
Hausmann, A., Godfray, H.C.J., Huemer, P., Mutanen, M., Rougerie, R., van Nieukerken, E.J., et al. 2013. Genetic patterns in European geometrid moths revealed by the Barcode Index Number (BIN) system. PLOS One, 8: e84518. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0084518.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hausmann, A., Parisi, F., and Sciarretta, A. 2016. The Geometrinae of Ethiopia II: Tribus Hemistolini, genus Prasinocyma (Lepidoptera: Geometridae, Geometrinae). Zootaxa, 4065: 1–63. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4065.1.1.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hitchcock, S.W. 1974. The Plecoptera or stoneflies of Connecticut. Part VII. Connecticut State Geological Natural History Survey Bulletin, 107: 1–262. Available from https://files.nc.gov/ncdeq/Water%20Quality/Environmental%20Sciences/BAU/Benthos%20Reference/Plecoptera%20of%20Connecticut%201974.pdf [accessed 05 February 2020].Google Scholar
Huelsenbeck, J.P., Larget, B., Miller, R.E., and Ronquist, F. 2002. Potential applications and pitfalls of Bayesian inference of phylogeny. Systematic Biology, 51: 673–688. https://doi.org/10.1080/10635150290102366.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jones, F.C. 2008. Taxonomic sufficiency: the influence of taxonomic resolution on freshwater bioassessments using benthic macroinvertebrates. Environmental Reviews, 16: 45–69. https://doi.org/10.1139/A07-010.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kumar, S., Stecher, G., and Tamura, K. 2016. MEGA7: molecular evolutionary genetics analysis, version 7.0, for bigger datasets. Molecular Biology and Evolution, 33: 1870–1874. https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msw054.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McDaniel, S.F. and Shaw, A.J. 2003. Phylogeographic structure and cryptic speciation in the trans-Arctic moss Pyrrhobryum mnioides . Evolution, 57: 205–215. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0014-3820.2003.tb00256.x.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meier, R., Shiyang, K., Vaidya, G., and Ng, P.K.L. 2006. DNA barcoding and taxonomy in Diptera: a tale of high interspecific variability and low identification success. Systematic Biology, 55: 715–728. https://doi.org/10.1080/10635150600969864.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Miller, K.B., Alarie, Y., Wolfe, G.W., and Whiting, M.F. 2005. Association of insect life stages using DNA sequences: the larvae of Philodytes umbrinus (Motschulsky) (Coleoptera: Dytiscidae). Systematic Entomology, 30: 499–509. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-3113.2005.00320.x.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morinière, J., Hendrich, L., Balke, M., Beermann, A.J., König, T., Hess, M., et al. 2017. A DNA barcode library for Germany’s mayflies, stoneflies and caddisflies (Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera and Trichoptera). Molecular Ecology Resources, 17: 1293–1307. https://doi.org/10.1111/1755-0998.12683.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mynott, J.H., Webb, J.M., and Suter, P.J. 2011. Adult and larval associations of the alpine stonefly genus Riekoperla McLellan (Plecoptera: Gripopterygidae) using mitochondrial DNA. Invertebrate Systematics, 25: 11–21. https://doi.org/10.1071/IS14043.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Poulton, B.C. and Stewart, K.W. 1991. The stoneflies of the Ozark and Ouachita Mountains. Memoirs of the American Entomological Society, 13: 11–16. Available from https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/38911823#page/5/mode/1up [accessed 05 February 2020].Google Scholar
Puillandre, N., Lambert, A., Brouillet, S., and Achaz, G. 2012. ABGD, automatic barcode gap discovery for primary species delimitation. Molecular Ecology, 21: 1864–1877. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-294X.2011.05239.x.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
South, E.J., Skinner, R.K., Dewalt, R.E., Kondratieff, B.C., Johnson, K.P., Davis, M.A., et al. 2021. Phylogenomics of the North American Plectoptera. Systematic Entomology, 46: 287–305. https://doi.org/10.1111/syen.12462.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sweeney, B.W., Battle, J.M., Jackson, J.K., and Dapkey, T. 2011. Can DNA barcodes of stream macroinvertebrates improve descriptions of community structure and water quality? Journal of the North American Benthological Society, 30: 195–216. https://doi.org/10.1899/10-016.1.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Szczytko, S.W. and Kondratieff, B.C. 2015. A review of the eastern Nearctic Isoperlinae (Plecoptera: Perlodidae) with the description of twenty-two new species. Monographs of Illesia, 1: 1–289. Available from http://illiesia.speciesfile.org/papers/Monographiae-of-Illiesia.pdf [accessed 16 February 2020].Google Scholar
Teslenko, V.A., Palatov, D.M., and Semenchenko, A.A. 2019. Description of new apterous winter species of Leuctra (Plectoptera: Leuctridae) based on morphology and DNA barcoding and further records of stonefly fauna of the Caucasus, Georgia. Zootaxa, 4585: 546–560. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4613.2.7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vitecek, S., Vinçon, G., Graf, W., and Pauls, S.U. 2017. High cryptic diversity in aquatic insects: an integrative approach to study the enigmatic Leuctra inermis species group (Plecoptera). Arthropod Systematics & Phylogeny, 75: 497–521.Google Scholar
Zhou, X., Adamowicz, S.J., Jacobus, L.M., DeWalt, R.E., and Hebert, P.D.N. 2009. Toward a comprehensive barcode library for Arctic life: Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, and Trichoptera of Churchill, Manitoba, Canada. Frontiers in Zoology, 6: 1–30. https://doi.org/10.1186/1742-9994-6-30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhou, X., Jacobus, L.M., DeWalt, R.E., Adamowicz, S.J., and Hebert, P.D.N. 2010. Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, and Trichoptera fauna of Churchill (Manitoba, Canada): insights into biodiversity patterns from DNA barcoding. Journal of North American Benthological Society, 29: 814–837. https://doi.org/10.1899/09-121.1.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Metzger et al. supplementary material

Metzger et al. supplementary material

Download Metzger et al. supplementary material(File)
File 124.4 KB