Evolution of Poecilimon jonicus group (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae): A history linked to the Aegean Neogene paleogeography

The Aegean archipelago is among the largest on Earth with astonishing biodiversity within Europe. Its territory underwent a massive geotectonic transformation in Neogene that resulted in multitude of changes in land-sea configuration and disintegrated the formerly united Aegean land to a complicated mainland-archipelago system. Therefore, it represents an excellent laboratory for studying evolution of terrestrial fauna. In the present study we use a model group of flightless bush-crickets with annual reproduction cycle – Poecilimon jonicus species group – to trace correlation of lineage diversification with the known paleogeographic events in the Aegean area. The group belongs to the hyperdiverse genus Poecilimon and has a disjunct distribution along the Hellenic arc from southwestern Anatolia through Crete to the western Balkans and the Apennines. To test our hypothesis, we inferred phylogenetic relationships of the P. jonicus group sensu lato using a nuclear fragment covering two spac...