A Species delimitation approach to uncover cryptic species in the South American fire ant decapitating flies (Diptera: Phoridae: Pseudacteon)

PloS One
Andrés F Sánchez-RestrepoLuis Antonio Calcaterra

Abstract

South American fire ant decapitating flies in the genus Pseudacteon (Diptera: Phoridae) are potential biocontrol agents of the invasive fire ants Solenopsis invicta and S. richteri in the United States and other regions of the world due to their high host specificity and the direct and indirect damage to their host ants. Despite their importance and the fact that several flies have already been released in the US, little is known about the genetic variability and phylogenetic relationships of Pseudacteon flies parasitizing South American fire ants in the Solenopsis saevissima species-group. A species delimitation analysis was conducted using a distance-based method (ABGD) and two tree-based methods (GMYC and mPTP) using COI sequences of 103 specimens belonging to 20 of the 22 Pseudacteon species known from southern South America. Additionally, phylogenetic relationships between the already described and new candidate species were inferred using mitochondrial (COI) and nuclear (wingless) sequences. The species delimitation analysis suggests that species richness in these flies has been previously underestimated, due to the existence of putative cryptic species within nominal Pseudacteon obtusus, P. pradei, P. tricuspis, P. culte...Continue Reading

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Datasets Mentioned

BETA
MN787931
MN788076
GU559934.1
AF217478.1
DQ448549.1
KM270850.1
KF632601.1
GU559945.1
GMYC

Methods Mentioned

BETA
PCR
genotyping

Software Mentioned

TNT
mPTP
splits
RAxML
QGIS
TreeAnnotator
CIPRES Science Gateway
R R Development Core Team
Tracer
Mega

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