Why so many colors? Exploring the role of color polymorphism in the enigmatic neotropical polythore selys damselflies
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Sanchez Herrera, Melissa.
Why so many colors? Exploring the role of color polymorphism in the enigmatic neotropical polythore selys damselflies. Retrieved from
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TitleWhy so many colors? Exploring the role of color polymorphism in the enigmatic neotropical polythore selys damselflies
Date Created2016
Other Date2016-10 (degree)
Extent1 online resource (xii, 125 p. : ill.)
DescriptionThe Neotropics is a center of global diversity for many groups of organisms, including the dragonflies and damselflies (Odonata). While the number of biodiversity surveys and new species descriptions for neotropical odonates is increasing, diversity in this region is still under-explored, and very few studies have looked at the genetic and morphological diversity within taxa. Here, I will present an overview of the evolutionary history, species diversity and morphological diversity of the Neotropical damselfly genus Polythore. Species in Polythore are stunningly colorful; their wings display varying shades of orange, black and white in complex patterns. Despite this color diversity, they lack variation in classical reproductive traits (e.g. male genitalia) commonly used for species description. The genus comprises 21 described morphospecies distributed along the eastern slopes of the Andes cordillera and the Amazon basin, from Colombia to northern Bolivia; they dwell in small, fast flowing streams with highly oxygenated waters. I used novel morphological methods (geometric morphometrics, chromaticity analysis, and Gabor wavelet transformation) to analyze the complexity of the wing color patterns present in this genus. I explored species and population relationships through phylogenetic reconstructions and species delimitation analyses incorporating mitochondrial (COI, ND1, 16S) and nuclear (18S, 28S, PMRT) sequences. I was able to quantify the color polymorphism and detect that wing color is not due to common descendent, i.e. not just result of phylogenetic history. I have discovered that the presence of four new cryptic species, which are new to science, are inflating the estimates species diversity within this genus. Furthermore, my phylogenetic reconstruction for the family Polythoridae suggests that Polythore has one common ancestor, however, other genera will need to be taxonomically revised. Finally, the divergence time calibration analyses indicate that important geological events like the Andes Cordillera uplift may have had an impact on the diversification of these Neotropical damselflies.
NotePh.D.
NoteIncludes bibliographical references
Noteby Melissa Sanchez Herrera
Genretheses, ETD doctoral
Languageeng
CollectionGraduate School - Newark Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Organization NameRutgers, The State University of New Jersey
RightsThe author owns the copyright to this work.