Genetic diversity among eight Dendrolimus species in Eurasia
The genetic diversity of 8 species of Dendrolimus present in Eurasia (Dendrolimus houi, D. kikuchii, D. pini, D. punctatus, D. sibiricus (EPPO A2 List), D. spectabilis, D. superans (EPPO A2 List), D. tabulaeformis) has been studied comparing the nucleotide sequences of COI and COII mitochondrial genes and ITS2 spacer of nuclear ribosomal genes. All known sequences deposited in GenBank for these Dendrolimus species were used, and in addition 112 sequences were determined for 28 specimens of D. sibiricus, D. pini and D. superans collected from 5 regions of Siberia and the Russian Far East. Results showed that 2 clusters of closely related species could be determined: 1) D. pini, D. sibiricus and D. superans;
2) D. spectabilis, D. punctatus and D. tabulaeformis. The two species, D. houi and D. kikuchii were found to be more distantly related to all other studied Dendrolimus species. According to the authors, this study supports the view that D. sibiricus and D. superans are distinct species which can be distinguished based on the phylogenetic analysis of ITS2 sequences. They also considered that D. tabulaeformis should be considered as a subspecies of D. punctatus. Some sequences from D. kilmez were also added in these studies and results suggested that D. kilmez should not be considered as a distinct species but corresponds to D. pini. Finally, some cases of integration of D. sibiricus mitochondrial DNA sequences into European populations of D. pini were noted, showing that hybridization between these two species is probably taking place in their overlapping range (in southern parts of Western and Eastern Siberia).
2) D. spectabilis, D. punctatus and D. tabulaeformis. The two species, D. houi and D. kikuchii were found to be more distantly related to all other studied Dendrolimus species. According to the authors, this study supports the view that D. sibiricus and D. superans are distinct species which can be distinguished based on the phylogenetic analysis of ITS2 sequences. They also considered that D. tabulaeformis should be considered as a subspecies of D. punctatus. Some sequences from D. kilmez were also added in these studies and results suggested that D. kilmez should not be considered as a distinct species but corresponds to D. pini. Finally, some cases of integration of D. sibiricus mitochondrial DNA sequences into European populations of D. pini were noted, showing that hybridization between these two species is probably taking place in their overlapping range (in southern parts of Western and Eastern Siberia).
Sources
Kononov A, Ustyantsev K, WangB, Mastro VC, Fet V, Blinov A, Baranchikov Y (2016) Genetic diversity among eight Dendrolimus species in Eurasia (Lepidoptera: Lasiocampidae) inferred from mitochondrial COI and COII, and nuclear ITS2 markers. BMC Genetics 17(suppl. 3), 157 DOI: 10.1186/s12863-016-0463-5. https://bmcgenet.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12863-016-0463-5