Abstract

SEDANO CRUZ, Raúl Ernesto  and  CALERO MEJIA, Humberto. Genetic characterization of the Heliconius sara (Nymphalidae) population in the Gorgona Island, Colombia. Acta biol.Colomb. [online]. 2021, vol.26, n.3, pp.374-384.  Epub Jan 25, 2022. ISSN 0120-548X.  https://doi.org/10.15446/abc.v26n3.86205.

The genetic structure of butterfly populations among islands and mainland has been poorly documented for the neotropics. This study shows a characterization of the Heliconius sara population with distribution on Gorgona Island in the Colombian Eastern Tropical Pacific region. We obtained partial sequences of a mitochondrial DNA, including information obtained from GenBank. The genetic diversity and structure were compared among the island population and their mainland conspecific, but also with congenerics, with those shared by a recent common ancestor within the Sapho/Sara clade. For the analysis of diversity and genetic structure, an analysis of molecular variance was performed. This analysis shows that the genetic distance between the island's population and that of the mainland is consistent with the intraspecific variation observed in other species of the Heliconious genus. For the reconstruction of the genealogy and the recent dating calibration in the upper Pleistocene of the monophyletic group of H. sara, a Bayesian inference was carried out as well as one of maximum likelihood. From the demographic analysis, an asymmetric gene flow model from the island to the mainland was selected. This model suggests low historical resistance of the geographic discontinuity to dispersal of this small and diurnal butterfly from the island. This is the first study to examine a possible event of local isolation of an island population of a butterfly in Colombia.

Keywords : isolation by distance; Phylogeography; lepidoptera; COI; butterflies.

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