Island Ecology and Evolution Research Group, Instituto de Productos Naturales y Agrobiología (IPNA-CSIC), 38206 La Laguna, Spain.
Grupo de Investigaciones Entomológicas de Tenerife (GIET), 38108 La Laguna, Spain.
J Insect Sci. 2024 Jul 1;24(4). doi: 10.1093/jisesa/ieae072.
The Canary Islands is a Macaronesian volcanic archipelago with a depauperate community of three species of Kalotermitidae, including Kalotermes dispar. A total of 54 Kalotermes colonies were collected from Gran Canaria, Tenerife, La Gomera, La Palma, and El Hierro islands. Soldiers and imagos were morphologically examined and sequenced for four mitochondrial markers. Although morphological differences could not be detected, phylogenetic analysis of both cox1/tRNA/cox2 and rrnL markers revealed two distinct clades of K. dispar, suggesting cryptic diversity. The diversification within the Canary Kalotermes lineage most likely occurred around 7.5 Mya, while the divergence within the two clades was reconstructed at about 3.6 Mya and 1.9 Mya. Kalotermes approximatus from the southeastern Nearctic constitutes a sister to the Canary Kalotermes, while the Palearctic K. flavicollis, K. italicus, and K. phoenicae form a separate clade. It is hypothesized that a faunal exchange of Kalotermes from the Nearctic to the Canary Islands occurred via transoceanic rafting during the mid-Miocene.
加那利群岛是马卡罗内西亚火山群岛，仅有三种木白蚁科物种，包括异色木白蚁。从大加那利岛、特内里费岛、戈梅拉岛、拉帕尔马岛和耶罗岛共收集了 54 个木白蚁殖民地。对士兵和成虫进行了形态学检查，并对四个线粒体标记物进行了测序。尽管无法检测到形态差异，但cox1/tRNA/cox2 和 rrnL 标记物的系统发育分析揭示了异色木白蚁的两个不同分支，表明存在隐生多样性。加那利木白蚁谱系内的多样化很可能发生在 750 万年前左右，而两个分支内的分歧则分别重建在大约 360 万年前和 190 万年前。来自东南近北极的近似木白蚁构成了加那利木白蚁的姊妹群，而古北界的黄翅木白蚁、意大利木白蚁和腓尼基木白蚁则形成了一个单独的分支。据推测，在中中新世期间，通过跨洋木筏，来自近北极的木白蚁发生了动物群交换，进入了加那利群岛。
