Cladistic, biogeographic and environmental niche analysis of the species of Agathemera Stål (Phasmatida, Agathemeridae)

M.C. DOMÍNGUEZ; SAN BLAS, G.; AGRAIN, F.; ROIG-JUÑENT, S.; SCOLLO, A.M.; DEBANDI, G.O

ZOOTAXA

MAGNOLIA PRESS

Año: 2009 vol. 2308 p. 43 - 57

1175-5326

The endemic southern South American genus Agathemera Stål, which contains eight species, is analyzed in a cladisticcontext in order to establish a hypothesis regarding the phylogenetic relationships among its species. The cladisticanalysis is based on adult and immature morphological characters belonging to both sexes. A biogeographical analysis isalso performed to reconstruct the biogeographic history of the genus, and an environmental niche analysis to determinethe potential distribution of the species, estimate niche overlap among species, and to find the most important variablesthat explain its present distribution. One tree of 51 steps was obtained that supports the monophyly of the genus. Thespecies A. elegans and A. mesoauriculae distributed in southern Chile are situated at the base of the cladogram and theyare the sister group to both the Argentinian (A. claraziana, A. luteola, A. maculafulgens and A. millepunctata) and theChilean species (A. grylloidea and A. crassa). The Biogeographic analysis using DIVA 1.1 found 1 optimalreconstruction that involves a vicariant event at each node. The vicariant event of the most apical node of the tree can becorrelated to the uplifting of the Andes. The basal species are distributed in the southern regions of Chile and in thePatagonian Steppe, while the remaining species are distributed in northern highlands. Environmental Niche Modelsshowed that the soil variable was important for all eight species. According to the models, A. claraziana and A.millepunctata have large potential geographic distribution covering almost all the Patagonian area, and have similarniche requirements, while the six remaining species showed a more restricted geographic distribution.