Taxonomy and phylogeny of north mediterranean Reticulitermes termites (Isoptera, Rhinotermitidae): A new insight

The molecular characterisation of 18 new populations of Reticulitermes is here presented for COII and 16S genes; results are elaborated and compared to all available ones, at distances and gene trees (Maximum Parsimony, Maximum likelihood, Bayesian analysis) levels. Within the R. lucifugus complex, a subspecific rank of differentiation appears tenable for Italian (R. lucifugus lucifugus, R. lucifugus corsicus) and European (R. lucifugus banyulensis, R. lucifugus grassei) taxa; a subspecific differentiation emerges also for the Sicilian samples. The existence of two different entities in the area formerly defined as inhabited by R. balkanensis is demonstrated; The north-eastern Italian Reticulitermes sp. is found to be more widely distributed in northern and south-eastern Italy and shows a close relationship to the sample from Peloponnese; the GenBank sample from continental Greece, on the contrary, appears more related to other eastern taxa such as R. lucifugus from Turkey and R. clypeatus from Israel; the distribution and differentiation of eastern Reticulitermes taxa are explained through the role that southern Balkans should have played as glacial refuge. Present data also evidences instances of anthropic involvement in taxa distribution; for one of these, the importation of at least a family group is taken into account.