MOLECULAR PHYLOGENY OF THE CICINDELA-MARITIMA (COLEOPTERA, CICINDELIDAE) GROUP INDICATES FAST RADIATION IN WESTERN NORTH-AMERICA

As a basis for the study of ecological diversification in the genus Ci cindela, we conducted a phylogenetic analysis of all 10 Nearctic and a single Palearctic species in the Cicindela maritima group. The phylog eny was derived from a total of 1,896 base pain of mitochondrial DNA c overing 3 regions of the mt genome. We also sequenced a variable expan sion segment of the nuclear 18S rRNA which was found invariant in all species of the C. maritima group but different from all other Cicindel a analyzed to date. This result, and the phylogenetic analysis of mtDN A, suggests that the C. maritima group is monophyletic. The mtDNA plac es the Palearctic C. maritima basal to the North American taxa The wid espread C. repanda and C. hirticollis are the basal taxa in the North American clade: 6 species From the western part of the continent form a clade of very closely related species with little divergence between mtDNA haplotypes. We also compiled data on habitat associations and p henology. Traced on the phylogeny both parameters have undergone frequ ent character changes during the evolution of the lineage, suggesting that ecological diversification, in combination with geographical subd ivision, may have promoted taxonomic diversification in this group. Th e rapid radiation in the mountains of western North America is consist ent with hypotheses that implicate topographic complexity in the incre ased rate of species diversification.