Genetic identity of Japanese Sympetrum frequens and Korean S. depressiusculum inferred from mitochondrial 16S rRNA sequences (Odonata: Libellulidae)

Kyoko Sawabea, Tetsuyuki Uédab, Kazunori Higashic, Seung-Mo Leed

  1. Department of Medical Entomology , National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Tokyo, Japan
  2. Ishikawa Agricultural College, Ishikawa, Japan
  3. Kinryu-machi, Japan
  4. Seoul, Korea

International Journal of Odonatology, Volume 7, Issue 3, Pages 517-527, 2004
https://doi.org/10.1080/13887890.2004.9748236
Published: 1 October 2004 (Received: 12 September 2003, Accepted: 31 July 2004)

Abstract

The Japanese endemic Sympetrum frequens is considered as the insular vicariant of S. depressiusculum, widely distributed in the Eurasian Continent. In Korea, morphologically intermediate specimens have been collected, mixed with typical S. depressiusculum. The taxonomical status of these two species is thus questionable. To clarify their status, sequencing of mitochondrial 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) was performed on 77 specimens of Sympetrum species collected from Korea and Japan. The pairwise differences between 378 nucleotides of S. frequens and S. depressiusculum, including the intermediate type, revealed only minor differences (< 0.5%, average 0.48%). The neighbor-joining phylogenetic tree indicated that all S. frequens and S. depressiusculum form one clade, suggesting that they pertain to a single species. The tree also suggests that the S. frequens population from Hokkaido is different from all other populations.

Keywords: Odonata, dragonfly, molecular phylogeny, mitochondrial 16S ribosomal RNA, Korean Peninsula, Japanese Islands, Sympetrum frequens, S. depressiusculum

Issue section: Article