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Genetic distinctiveness of the damselfly Coenagrion puella in North Africa: an overlooked and endangered taxon

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Abstract

North African odonates are facing conservation challenges, not only by increased degradation and loss of habitat, but also by having poorly understood taxonomy. Coenagrion puella is a widely distributed damselfly but there is debate about the taxonomic status of North African populations, where the species is very rare. We evaluate the genetic distinctiveness of North African C. puella using mitochondrial and nuclear genetic markers. We found a clear genetic differentiation between North African and European populations (3.4 % mtDNA) and a lack of shared haplotypes between individuals from the two continents. These results suggest that the damselfly C. puella comprises two genetically distinct phylogenetic lineages: one in Europe and one in North Africa, and re-invigorate the debate on the validity of the North African endemic C. puella kocheri. We propose that these two lineages of C. puella should be managed as distinct molecular operational taxonomic units. More generally, this study reinforces the important role of North Africa as centre of speciation and differentiation for odonates, and highlights the relevance of incorporating genetic data to understand the evolutionary history and taxonomy for effective biodiversity conservation.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank all colleagues that assisted us in the field: Cândida Vale, Cristiana Vieira, Guillermo Velo-Antón, Joana Marques, João Campos and Zbyszek Boratyński. The field work was partially funded by the project “Coenagrion mercuriale: distribución, diversidad genética y estado de conservación” of Instituto de Estudios Ceutíes (Ceuta – Spain). Fieldwork took place under the permit of the Haut Commisariat aux Eaux and Forêts of Morocco (HCEFLCD/DLCDPN/DPRN/CFF N°255/2012) and l’Institut National de Recherches en Génie Rural Eaux et Forêts of Tunisia. S.F. and J.C.B. are supported by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (SFRH/BD/65038/2009; and IF/00459/2013, respectively).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CIBIO/InBio - Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos da Universidade do Porto, Vairão, 4485-661, Vairão, Portugal

    Sónia Ferreira, Paulo Célio Alves & José Carlos Brito

  2. Departamento de Biologia da Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade do Porto, 4169-007, Porto, Portugal

    Sónia Ferreira, Paulo Célio Alves & José Carlos Brito

  3. Institute of Integrative Biology, University of Liverpool, Biosciences Building, Crown Street, Liverpool, L69 7ZB, UK

    Sónia Ferreira, David J. Thompson & Phillip C. Watts

  4. Immeuble Orphée, Apt 703, Cidex 62, 78 rue de la justice, 54710, Ludres, France

    Jean-Pierre Boudot

  5. Laboratoire Ecologie, Biodiversité et Environnement, Faculté des Sciences de Tétouan, Université Abdelmalek Essaâdi, M’Hannech II, BP 2121, Tétouan, Morocco

    Mohamed El Haissoufi

  6. Wildlife Biology Program, University of Montana, Missoula, MT, 59812, USA

    Paulo Célio Alves

  7. Department of Ecology, University of Oulu, PO Box 3000, 90014, Oulu, Finland

    Phillip C. Watts

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  1. Sónia Ferreira
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  2. Jean-Pierre Boudot
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  3. Mohamed El Haissoufi
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  4. Paulo Célio Alves
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  5. David J. Thompson
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  6. José Carlos Brito
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  7. Phillip C. Watts
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Correspondence to Sónia Ferreira.

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Ferreira, S., Boudot, JP., El Haissoufi, M. et al. Genetic distinctiveness of the damselfly Coenagrion puella in North Africa: an overlooked and endangered taxon. Conserv Genet 17, 985–991 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10592-016-0826-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10592-016-0826-5

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