Taxonomic splitting into three species of Cyclocephala tridentata (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Dynastinae), on the focal basis of genetic, chromosomal and geographic data

Abstract

The populations of Cyclocephala tridentata Fabricius 1801 from Martinique, Dominica and Guadeloupe (Lesser Antilles) differ in the accumulation of mutations in the mitochondrial CO1 gene and numerous chromosomal rearrangements (Giannoulis et al. 2012) likely to cause the sterility of possible hybrids. Thus, they form three irreversibly separated reproductive groups, i.e., three distinct species, although their morphologies remain fairly similar (cryptic species). We propose that the population from Guadeloupe conserves the name of Cyclocephala tridentata, while those from Dominica (formely C. tridentata dominicensis Cartwright & Chalumeau 1977) and Martinique become C. dominicensis n. comb. and C. annamariae n.sp., respectively. Their slight morphological differences are briefly described, as well as the relationships between these species and the closely related species from Guadeloupe C. insulicola Arrow 1937 as well as C. melanocephala rubiginosa Burmeister 1847 from Guadeloupe and Martinique and C. mafaffa Burmeister 1847 from Guadeloupe. To the best of our knowledge, this study would provide the first example of chromosomal speciation demonstrated in beetles. Finally, we describe the new species C. annamariae n.sp.