Rudogorites simonei gen. nov. and sp. nov. from Central Bosnia (Coleoptera: Leiodidae: Cholevinae: Leptodirini)

Dinaric karst in Western Balkans is especially biodiverse in cave beetle fauna. Despite the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina being a relatively well-studied region, new species are still discovered and described regularly, even in recent times. Discoveries of new genera are, however, rare. Based on recently collected beetle specimens in the cave Lijina Pećina near the town of Kreševo in the region of Bosansko Rudogorje in Central Bosnia, a new troglobiotic leptodirine genus Rudogorites gen. nov. and a single new species R. simonei sp. nov. are described. The region of Bosansko Rudogorje consists mainly of non-carbonate rocks, sandstones and polymetallic ore. In the area, there is a patch of isolated karst where a new endemic subterranean fauna has been found. An updated key to the Leptodirini genera of the Apholeuonus phyletic group is provided.

Living in isolation for almost 40 years: molecular divergence of the 28S rDNA and COI sequences between French and Polish populations of the cave beetle Speonomus normandi hydrophilus (Jeannel, 1907)

The paper gives the results of the first studies on the molecular divergence between native and non-native populations of Speonomus normandi hydrophilus (Jeannel, 1907). This species is endemic to Massif Arize in the Central Pyrenees (France), and represents highly specialised organisms that live underground. In 1982, one hundred specimens of S. normandi hydrophilus had been experimentally introduced into the Dzwonnica Cave (Poland). Since then, a numerous population has developed in the Towarna-Dzwonnica cave system, and the neighbouring Cabanowa Cave. After almost 40 years of isolation between native and non-native populations, the genetic variations were examined using the COI and 28S rDNA genes. Analyses of the haplotypes of 28S showed one common haplogroup, which confirms the origin of the Polish group. The differentiation of haplotypes for the COI marker was high for both the French and Polish populations. Altogether 18 haplotypes of this marker have been detected, 12 in the French population and 9 in the Polish. However, only a portion of the haplotypes is shared between the native and introduced population.

Geographically structured genetic diversity in the cave beetle Darlingtonea kentuckensis Valentine, 1952 (Coleoptera, Carabidae, Trechini, Trechina)

Cave beetles of the eastern USA are one of many poorly studied groups of insects and nearly all previous work delimiting species is based solely on morphology. This study assesses genetic diversity in the monotypic cave carabid beetle genus DarlingtoneaValentine 1952, to test the relationship between putative geographical barriers to subterranean dispersal and the boundaries of genetically distinct groups. Approximately 400bp of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I (COI) gene was sequenced from up to four individuals from each of 27 populations, sampled from caves along the escarpments of the Mississippian and Cumberland plateaus in eastern Kentucky, USA. The 81 individuals sequenced yielded 28 unique haplotypes. Hierarchical analyses of molecular variance (AMOVA) within and among geographically defined groups tested two a priori hypotheses of structure based on major and minor river drainages, as well as genetic distance clusters defined a posteriori from an unrooted analysis. High genetic differentiation (FST) between populations was found across analyses. The influence of isolation by distance could potentially account for much but not all of the variation found among geographically defined groups at both levels. High variability among the three northernmost genetic clusters (FCT), low variability among populations within clusters (FSC), and low within-cluster Mantel correlations indicate the importance of unidentified likely intra-karst barriers to gene flow separating closely grouped cave populations. Overall phylogeographic patterns are consistent with previous evidence of population isolation among cave systems in the region, revealing geographically structured cryptic diversity in Darlingtonea over its distribution. The landscape features considered a priori in this study were not predictive of the genetic breaks among the three northern clusters, which are genetically distinct despite their close geographic proximity.

Radiation and ancestral range reconstruction of the cave beetle genus Anthroherpon (Coleoptera, Leiodidae, Leptodirini)

The genus Anthroherpon Reitter, 1889 is the most species-rich genus of the exclusively subterranean subtribe Anthroherponina. It comprises 26 species and 55 subspecies distributed in the Dinaric mountains which are known to be a world biodiversity hotspot for subterranean fauna. Most species are short-range endemics and more than half of the species are known only from a single cave, but the genus as a whole has a wide range. This study provides a comprehensive evolutionary analysis of the Anthroherpon radiation, using a dated molecular tree as a framework for understanding the diversification of the genus and reconstructing its ancestral range. We reconstructed the phylogeny of Anthroherpon using Bayesian analysis of six loci, both mitochondrial and nuclear, and we inferred the ancestral range of the genus using BioGeoBEARS. Our main findings show that Anthroherpon is monophyletic and started to diverge approximately in the Early Miocene (ca. 22 MYA). The genus has diversified entirely underground. Our results show that troglobitic lineages like Anthroherpon can disperse and diversify underground over a large geographic area during long periods of time. Biogeographic reconstruction of the ancestral range shows the origin of the genus in the area comprising three high mountains in western Montenegro: Dobreljica, Moračke planine, and Orjen. From this area the presumed ancestor dispersed to the other parts of its present range.

The cave beetle genus Anthroherpon is polyphyletic; molecular phylogenetics and description of Graciliella n. gen. (Leiodidae, Leptodirini)

The subtribe Anthroherponina form an iconic group of obligate cave beetles, typical representatives of the Dinaric subterranean fauna, which is considered to be the richest in the world. Phylogenetic studies within this subtribe are scarce and based only on morphological characters, which, due to troglomorphic convergence, are frequently unreliable. Moreover, morphological stasis and morphological polymorphism make classification of taxa difficult. To test if characters that have traditionally been accepted as informative for Anthroherponina classification are indeed reliable, we evaluated the monophyly of the most speciesrich genus of this subtribe - Anthroherpon Reitter, 1889. Our study, based on a molecular phylogenetic analysis of fragments of the 18S, 28S, and COI (both 5’ and 3’ end) loci revealed that the genus Anthroherpon as conventionally defined is polyphyletic. To resolve this polyphyly, we defined one new additional genus, Graciliella n. gen., for which we then examined the intrageneric diversity using molecular and morphometric approaches. Molecular phylogenetic analysis of two COI mitochondrial gene fragments revealed the presence of four species inside Graciliella n. gen., including two new species, which we here describe as G. kosovaci n. sp. and G. ozimeci n. sp. To analyze interspecific morphological differences within Graciliella we performed a discriminant analysis based on 40 linear morphometric measurements. The results showed that differences between species and subspecies inside Graciliella, however subtle they may seem, are measurable and reproducible. All species of the genus are briefly diagnosed, an identification key is proposed and a distribution map of all taxa of Graciliella is provided.