This thesis examines the European phylogeography of the meadow grasshopper Chorthippus paralleJus. This common species has a very large range covering Europe, southern Scandinavia, Turkey and Russia, with two recognized subspecies. These are c.p.erythropus in Spain and c.p.paraJ1eJus in other regions. This species has been studied using mtDNA RFLPs and sequence data. The greatest levels of genetic subdivision were found to occur between southern Spain, southern Italy and the Balkans. No subdivision was detected between Balkan populations and those in central and northern Europe. These data were interpreted as indications that at least three refugia existed in Europe during the last glaciation. The historical locations of these refugia can be inferred to have been in southern Spain, southern Italy and the Balkans. Furthermore, postglacial expansion from the Balkan refugium is indicated as the origin of central and northern European populations of C.paralleJus. A phylogeny of common European Chorthippus species, and closely related genera, is presented from analysis of mtDNA sequence data. This analysis indicates that, although there are many similarities to the traditional morphological taxonomic arrangement, several revisions need to be considered and investigated further. These include the position of the monospecific genus Stauroderus outside of the Chorthippus clade and the division of these Chorthippus species into 3 subgenera. Finally, the evolutionary patterns of the cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COl) gene, which was used for the Chorthippus studies, are investigated for insects in general. The patterns of amino acid variability indicate regions of very different substitutional rates within this gene. These regions are discussed in terms of the known and assumed functional constraints on gene function. The variety of evolutionary rates in adjacent regions are considered further with regard to their utility in different levels of phylogenetic study, and conserved insect primers for the exploitation of these regions are presented.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:298311 |
| Date | January 1994 |
| Creators | Lunt, David H. |
| Publisher | University of East Anglia |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
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