Department of Botany and Zoology, University of Stellenbosch, Matieland, South Africa
Mcdonald, D.E., Department of Botany and Zoology, University of Stellenbosch, Matieland, South Africa; Daniels, S.R., Department of Botany and Zoology, University of Stellenbosch, Matieland, South Africa
Habitat specialists such as soft-bodied invertebrates characterized by low dispersal capability and sensitivity to dehydration can be employed to examine biome histories. In this study, the Cape velvet worm (Peripatopsis capensis) was used to examine the impacts of climatic oscillations on historical Afromontane forest in the Western Cape, South Africa. Divergence time estimates suggest that the P. capensis species complex diverged during the Pliocene epoch. This period was characterized by dramatic climatic and topographical change. Subsequently, forest expansion and contraction cycles led to diversification within P. capensis. Increased levels of genetic differentiation were observed along a west-to-south-easterly trajectory because the south-eastern parts of the Cape Fold Mountain chain harbour larger, more stable fragments of forest patches, have more pronounced habitat heterogeneity and have historically received higher levels of rainfall. These results suggest the presence of three putative species within P. capensis, which are geographically discreet and genetically distinct. © 2012 The Authors. Journal of Evolutionary Biology © 2012 European Society for Evolutionary Biology.
mitochondrial DNA; rain; Bayesian analysis; biome; Cape Floristic Region; climate oscillation; crypsis; dehydration; dispersal; divergence; forest ecosystem; genetic differentiation; geographical variation; heterogeneity; invertebrate; mitochondrial DNA; phylogeography; Pliocene-Pleistocene boundary; specialist; species diversity; animal; article; Bayes theorem; classification; climate change; DNA sequence; ecosystem; evolution; genetic variability; genetics; invertebrate; mitochondrion; phylogeny; phylogeography; physiology; population dynamics; population genetics; South Africa; species difference; time; tree; Animals; Bayes Theorem; Biological Evolution; Climate Change; DNA, Mitochondrial; Ecosystem; Genetic Variation; Genetics, Population; Invertebrates; Mitochondria; Phylogeny; Phylogeography; Population Dynamics; Rain; Sequence Analysis, DNA; South Africa; Species Specificity; Time Factors; Trees; South Africa; Western Cape; Invertebrata; Onychophora; Peripatopsis; Peripatopsis capensis
