PLoS ONE (2013) 8 (10 - e76168)

Pablo Fresia, Ana Maria L. Azeredo-Espin and Mariana L. Lyra (2013)
The phylogeographic history of the new world screwworm fly, inferred by approximate Bayesian computation analysis
PLoS ONE 8 (10 - e76168)
Abstract: Insect pest phylogeography might be shaped both by biogeographic events and by human influence. Here, we conducted an approximate Bayesian computation (ABC) analysis to investigate the phylogeography of the New World screwworm fly, Cochliomyia hominivorax, with the aim of understanding its population history and its order and time of divergence. Our ABC analysis supports that populations spread from North to South in the Americas, in at least two different moments. The first split occurred between the North/Central American and South American populations in the end of the Last Glacial Maximum (15,300-19,000 YBP). The second split occurred between the North and South Amazonian populations in the transition between the Pleistocene and the Holocene eras (9,100-11,000 YBP). The species also experienced population expansion. Phylogenetic analysis likewise suggests this north to south colonization and Maxent models suggest an increase in the number of suitable areas in South America from the past to present. We found that the phylogeographic patterns observed in C. hominivorax cannot be explained only by climatic oscillations and can be connected to host population histories. Interestingly we found these patterns are very coincident with general patterns of ancient human movements in the Americas, suggesting that humans might have played a crucial role in shaping the distribution and population structure of this insect pest. This work presents the first hypothesis test regarding the processes that shaped the current phylogeographic structure of C. hominivorax and represents an alternate perspective on investigating the problem of insect pests.
(The abstract is excluded from the Creative Commons licence and has been copied with permission by the publisher.)
Link to article at publishers website
Database assignments for author(s): Mariana Lúcio Lyra, Ana Maria L. Azeredo-Espin

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
molecular biology - genes
surveys/sampling/distribution

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Cochliomyia hominivorax		Cuba
	Cochliomyia hominivorax		Dominican Republic
	Cochliomyia hominivorax		Mexico
	Cochliomyia hominivorax		Brazil (south)
	Cochliomyia hominivorax		Colombia
	Cochliomyia hominivorax		Ecuador (continental)
	Cochliomyia hominivorax		Paraguay
	Cochliomyia hominivorax		Uruguay
	Cochliomyia hominivorax		Venezuela