Zara President Co-authors Paper on Cave Cricket Genetics and Biogeography
Ceuthophilus species mating
Researchers examined the biogeography and genetic patterns of two subgenera of cave crickets across Texas, and found some unexpected results. The more cave-adapted taxon (Geotettix) was expected to have greater genetic divergence among caves due to the presumed inability to disperse overland. It was found, however, to have less genetic divergence, indicating either a recent bottleneck, or more migration between regions than is currently understood. The opposite was true for the less cave-adapted trogloxene, Ceuthophilus. That subgenus was found to have very high divergence and even to have multiple species groups inhabiting the same cave. These results indicate a long history of migration, high population size, and periodic recolonization of caves.
The gene trees of both taxa showed definitive geographic structure, including strong support for many yet undescribed species in central Texas. Considering these results and that most of the species in this genus were described more than 75 years ago, the taxonomy for this group is desperately out of date. If the best management practices for endangered cave invertebrates are to include protection of cave cricket foraging ranges, further work is needed to describe which species occur in different areas, and what the differences are in their foraging behavior, migration, and habitat use.
Citation
Weckstein, J.D., K.P. Johnson, J.D. Murdoch, J.K. Krejca, D.M. Takiya, G. Veni, J.R. Reddell and S.J. Taylor. 2016. Comparative phylogeography of two codistributed subgenera of cave crickets.
Journal of Biogeography. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jbi.12734
The gene trees of both taxa showed definitive geographic structure, including strong support for many yet undescribed species in central Texas. Considering these results and that most of the species in this genus were described more than 75 years ago, the taxonomy for this group is desperately out of date. If the best management practices for endangered cave invertebrates are to include protection of cave cricket foraging ranges, further work is needed to describe which species occur in different areas, and what the differences are in their foraging behavior, migration, and habitat use.
Citation
Weckstein, J.D., K.P. Johnson, J.D. Murdoch, J.K. Krejca, D.M. Takiya, G. Veni, J.R. Reddell and S.J. Taylor. 2016. Comparative phylogeography of two codistributed subgenera of cave crickets.
Journal of Biogeography. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jbi.12734