Considerations on the Taxonomy of the Genus Arhuaco Adams and Bernard 1977, and its Relationships with the Genus Pronophila Doubleday [1849] (Nymphalidae, Satyrinae).

Arhuaco Adams & Bernard (1977) is one of the least known genera of Neotropical Satyrinae. It comprises two species and presents an unusual disjunct distribution, with A. ica Adams & Bernard (1977), endemic to the isolated Colombian Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, and A. dryadina (Schaus 1913) found in the mountains of Costa Rica and Panama. Here, the female of A. dryadina is described, and a new generic diagnosis is presented. Affinities with other genera of the subtribe Pronophilina, in particular the potential closest relatives, such as Pronophila Doubleday (1849), are investigated based on morphological, molecular, ecological, and behavioral data. Results from molecular and morphological sources are incongruent. Molecular data indicate that Arhuaco is paraphyletic, with A. dryadina segregating within the Pronophila clade. Morphological data, by contrast, indicate a closer affinity between the two species currently placed in Arhuaco, favoring the monophyly of the genus, and show no consistent synapomorphies for Arhuaco + Pronophila. A vicariance biogeographical scenario is evaluated.

Selective sweep of Wolbachia and parthenogenetic host genomes - the example of the weevil Eusomus ovulum.

Most parthenogenetic weevil species are postulated to have originated via hybridization, but Wolbachia has also been speculated to play a role via the induction of parthenogenesis. Here, we examine the molecular diversity of Wolbachia and parthenogenetic host genomes. The host species studied here, Eusomus ovulum, is known to be exclusively parthenogenetic and triploid. The E. ovulum populations that we examined had a low genetic diversity of mitochondrial (cytochrome oxidase I gene) and nuclear markers (internal transcribed spacer 2 and elongation factor 1-α gene), and they all were infected by only single bacteria strains (genotyped for five genes according to the multilocus sequence typing system). We found significant signs of linkage disequilibrium and a lack of recombination amongst all of the examined genomes (bacteria and host), which strongly indicates a selective sweep. The lack of heterozygosity in host nuclear genes, missing bisexual populations and selective sweep between the parthenogenetic host and bacteria genomes suggest that parthenogenesis in this species could have originated as a result of infection rather than hybridization. However, the finding that highly similar Wolbachia strains are also present in other parthenogenetic weevils from the same habitat suggests the opposite scenario: bacteria may have infected the already parthenogenetic lineage and taken advantage of the host's unisexual reproduction.