Wolbachia in Neotropical terrestrial isopods.

Despite Wolbachia being widespread among terrestrial isopods, studies on this symbiotic relationship are still incipient in the Neotropical region. The aims of the present study were to investigate the presence and prevalence of Wolbachia in natural populations of terrestrial isopod species in South America, and to analyze the diversity and phylogenetic relationships of Wolbachia strains. A total of 1172 individuals representing 11 families and 35 species were analyzed. We observed distinct evolutionary scenarios according to the geographical origins of the species: strains harbored by most of the introduced species belong to the Oniclade in supergroup B and are identical to those found in their original ecozone (i.e. Palearctic). On the other hand, the strains found in native Neotropical terrestrial isopods showed low prevalence, high diversity and none of them belonged to the Oniclade, although most belonged to supergroup B. The dynamics of infection in Neotropical species seems to be the result of several events of loss and acquisition of the bacteria, which refutes the hypothesis of an ancestral acquisition of Wolbachia in Oniscidea. The presence of strains from supergroups A and F was also detected for the first time in terrestrial isopods, revealing a Wolbachia diversity previously unknown for this group of host.