Taxonomic Position of Anastrangalia reyi and A. sequensi (Coleoptera, Cerambycidae) Based on Molecular and Morphological Data

Abstract

Abstract Anastrangalia reyi (Heyden, 1889) and Anastrangalia sequensi (Reitter, 1898) are morphologically similar species described in late of XIX century. The recent barcoding revealed that A. reyi is almost identical to another species, Anastrangalia dubia (Scopoli, 1763), by the sequence of nucleotides in cytochrome C oxidase subunit I (COI). Consequently, the taxonomic position of these species is unclear. We have conducted a comprehensive meta-analysis of available data of COI sequences combined with a study of morphological characters of the male genitalia of A. reyi, A. sequensi and A. dubia. Based on 87 sequenced samples we built well-resolved phylogenetic maximum likelihood tree. We found the clades of A. dubia, A. reyi and A. sequensi to be closely related and arranged in the dense cluster. Despite this, numerous cases of introgressive hybridization of A. reyi and A. dubia were identified, indicating an inadequate reproductive barrier between them. The study of morphological features of male genitalia of A. reyi, A. sequensi and A. dubia shows minor differences between them. Based on these facts and the results of the phylogenetic analysis we propose to consider A. reyi and A. sequensi to be subspecies of A. dubia.