Phylogeographic analysis of populations of Protonectarina sylveirae (Saussure, 1854) (Hymenoptera: Vespidae: Polistinae)

Abstract

As a discipline that investigates principles and process that determine the geographic distribution of genealogical lineages, phylogeography deals with phylogenetic relationships and historical components responsible for distribution lines, creating a bridge between micro and macro-evolution processes. Protonectarina sylveirae (Saussure) is a wide distributed species (east and Midwest of Brazil, also reaching Argentina and Paraguay) belonging to the Epiponini, a tribe of social wasps restricted and quite common in the Neotropical region. Due to the heterogeneity of this region, the reconstruction of its biogeographic history turns very complex. Once the biogeographic barriers can hamper or interrupt gene flow among populations, this work intends to investigate the divergence between different lineages of P. sylveirae and the influence of geological events that led to this. The phylogeographic analysis will be made from molecular (3 mitochondrial genes and 1 nuclear) and morphological data (8 measures of external morphology of adult). The specimens will be collected with the aid of an entomological net directly in flowers and in the vegetation with the use of an attractive, in areas that represent the distribution of the species that were choice with basis on the literature. For the morphological analysis, species deposited in collections will also be used. It is expected to find greater discrepancy between populations separated by barriers older and/or difficult to overcome and, therefore, represent barrier to gene flow, as between lineages of the forest areas and those in the open areas.