Multiple refugia from penultimate glaciations in East Asia demonstrated by phylogeography and ecological modelling of an insect pest 06 Biological Sciences 0604 Genetics 06 Biological Sciences 0602 Ecology 05 Environmental Sciences 0502 Environmental Science and Management

Abstract

Background: Refugial populations in Quaternary glaciations are critical to understanding the evolutionary history and climatic interactions of many extant species. Compared with the well-studied areas of Europe and Northern America, refugia of species in eastern Asia remain largely unknown. Here, we investigated the phylogeographic history of a globally important insect pest, the oriental fruit moth Grapholita molesta, in its native range of China. Results: Genetic structure analyses unveiled three distinct groups and a set of populations with admixture. Approximate Bayesian Computation (ABC) analyses support range expansion of this moth from southwest groups of Yunnan and Sichuan to norther..