Phylogeographic structure in three North American tent caterpillar species (Lepidoptera: Lasiocampidae):Malacosoma americana,M. californica, andM. disstria

Abstract

While phylogeographic structure has been examined in many North American vertebrate species, insects have received much less attention despite their central ecological roles. The moth genusMalacosoma(Hübner, 1820), is an important group of forestry pests responsible for large-scale defoliation across much of the Nearctic and Palearctic. The present study uses sequence variation in the mitochondrial cytochromecoxidase 1 (COI) gene to examine the population genetic structure of the three widespreadMalacosomaspecies (M. americana,M. californica, andM. disstria). Populations of all three species showed highest diversity in the south, suggesting that modern populations derived from southern refugia with loss of variation as these lineages dispersed northwards. However, despite similar life histories and dispersal abilities, the extent of regional variation varied among the taxa.M. americana,a species restricted to eastern North America, showed much less genetic structure than the westernM. californicaor the widespreadM. disstria. The regional differentiation in the latter reflects the likely derivation of modern lineages from several refugia, as well as taxonomic uncertainty inM. californica. In these respects, the three species ofMalacosomashare phylogeographic patterns similar to those detected in vertebrates which are characterised by greater phylogeographic breaks in the western half of the continent and limited structure in the east.