DESCRIPTION AND PHYLOGENETIC RELATIONSHIPS OF A NEW SPECIES AND SUBESPECIES OF BARIPUS (COLEOPTERA: CARABIDAE) AND CONSIDERATIONS ABOUT PATTERNS OF SPECIATION

SERGIO A. ROIG-JUÑENT; RODOLFO CARRARA; FEDERICO AGRAIN; EIDER RUIZ-MANZANOS; MARCELO TOGNELLI

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania USA

Congreso; International Meeting of Carabidologists 2006; 2006

Carnegie Museum of Natural History

The Southern South American genus Baripus Dejean (Carabidae: Broscini) includes three subgenera, one of them Cardiophthalmus Curtis, endemic of the patagonian steppe, is one of the largest Carabidae in the region. New studies in the northern portion of Patagonia, the Payunia, reveal the presence of a new species restricted to an isolated mountain, and a new subspecies of Baripus (C.) mendozensis Roig-Juñent. Morphological description, including male and female genitalia, and diagnostic illustrations are provided for the new taxa. Phylogenetic analysis was developed using all known species of Baripus. The analysis shows that the new species is the adelphotaxon of Baripus mendozensis. Both species are allopatric, but the limit of their distribution ranges are very close, no more than 7 km apart. The subspecies of Baripus mendozensis are allopatric also. The pattern of distribution, together with the phylogenetic pattern, suggests a possible peripatric pattern of speciation. We used a predictive model of species distribution to establish the present and past distributions of the subspecies. Based on these analyses, we speculate that climatic changes during the Pleistocene could have produced the current pattern of speciation.