Diversity and evolution of New Caledonian endemic Taophila subgenus Lapita (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Eumolpinae)

New Caledonia is an important biodiversity hotspot, where numerous plant and animal groups show high levels of species diversity and endemicity, while facing multiple threats to their habitats. Leaf beetles in the subfamily Eumolpinae illustrate this pattern, with species estimates higher than the number of described taxa and distribution ranges that are often consistent with microendemicity. In this study, we increase the knowledge of this group by focusing on the Taophila subgenus Lapita, known from three species but here expanded to eleven with eight new species: T. atlantis sp. nov., T. hermes sp. nov., T. kronos sp. nov., T. oceanica sp. nov., T. olympica sp. nov., T. ouranos sp. nov., T. riberai sp. nov., and T. tridentata sp. nov. Additionally, we infer the evolutionary history of the group using mtDNA markers (COI and rrnS). This phylogeny and the species distribution help hypothesize a model of evolution for this lineage in the context of historical climatic and geological changes of New Caledonia.

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Platania, Leonardo, Cardoso, Anabela, Gómez-Zurita, Jesús
Other Authors: Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (España)
Format: artículo de revisión biblioteca
Published: Oxford University Press 2020
Subjects:Biodiversity, Diversification, Microendemicity, Phylogeny, Speciation, Taxonomy, Ultramafic soils,
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10261/236175
http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100011033
http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100000780
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