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theses

The 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.

ETD_7462

doi:10.7282/T3X92DNT

Ph.D.

Includes bibliographical references

by Melissa Sanchez Herrera

ETD doctoral

The author owns the copyright to this work.