de Oliveira Jader, Alevi Kaio Cesar Chaboli, Ravazi Amanda, Santana Jociel Klleyton S, Lasserre Daniel Frias, da Rosa João Aristeu, Galvão Cleber, Marrelli Mauro Toledo
Laboratory of Entomology in Public Health, Department of Epidemiology, Faculty of Public Health (FSP), University of Sao Paulo (USP), Avenue Dr. Arnaldo, 715, São Paulo, SP, 01246-904, Brazil.
Department of Entomology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., USA.
Sci Rep. 2025 Jul 2;15(1):22819. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-02518-6.
Mepraia is a genre composed of three species endemic to Chile. Climate projections demonstrate that these triatomines could modify their potential geographical range and does not rule out that hybridization events could be occurring. Furthermore, recent phylogenomic studies suggested possible ancestral events of hybridization and gene flow and, based on the most recent speciation model that divides Mepraia in two geographically distinct groups (the North, composed of M. garjadoi and M. parapatrica, and the South, composed of M. spinolai), was also suggested an alternative model that may be compatible with ancient hybridization events or continued gene flow. Thus, we conducted a comprehensive study of the capacity to produce hybrids and to reproductive barriers present between Mepraia spp., with the aim of evaluating the possibility of hybridization and interspecific gene flow be occurring in natural conditions and confirming the specific status of the three Mepraia species. Even though hybrids have been obtained in all directions, the combination of different evolutionary events demonstrated here, such as low hatching rate and high mortality rate of hybrids, as well as the presence of post-zygotic reproductive barriers and possible action of Haldane's rule indicate that there is no continuous interspecific gene flow between Mepraia spp. and confirms the specific status of species based on the biological species concept.
梅普拉亚属由智利特有的三个物种组成。气候预测表明，这些锥蝽可能会改变其潜在的地理分布范围，并且不排除可能正在发生杂交事件。此外，最近的系统基因组学研究表明可能存在杂交和基因流动的祖先事件，并且基于最新的物种形成模型，该模型将梅普拉亚属分为两个地理上不同的群体（北部由加尔哈多伊锥蝽和近域锥蝽组成，南部由斯皮诺莱锥蝽组成），还提出了一种可能与古代杂交事件或持续基因流动兼容的替代模型。因此，我们对梅普拉亚属物种之间产生杂种的能力和存在的生殖障碍进行了全面研究，目的是评估在自然条件下发生杂交和种间基因流动的可能性，并确认这三个梅普拉亚属物种的特定地位。尽管已经在各个方向上获得了杂种，但此处展示的不同进化事件的组合，例如杂种的低孵化率和高死亡率，以及合子后生殖障碍的存在和霍尔丹法则的可能作用，表明梅普拉亚属物种之间不存在连续的种间基因流动，并基于生物物种概念确认了物种的特定地位。
