Phylogenetic analysis of the Australian trans-Bass Strait millipede genus Pogonosternum (Carl, 1912) (Diplopoda, Polydesmida, Paradoxosomatidae) indicates multiple glacial refugia in Southeastern Australia

Abstract

This study documents the first detailed phylogenetic analysis of an Australian paradoxosomatid millipede genus. Two mitochondrial genes (partial COI and 16S) as well as partial nuclear 28S rDNA were amplified and sequenced for 41 individuals of the southeastern Australian genus Pogonosternum Jeekel, 1965. The analysis indicates that five species groups of Pogonosternum occur across New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania: P. nigrovirgatum (Carl, 1912), P. adrianae Jeekel, 1982, P. laetificum Jeekel, 1982 and two undescribed species. P. coniferum (Jeekel, 1965) specimens cluster within P. nigrovirgatum. Most of these five species groups exhibit a pattern of high intraspecific genetic variability and highly localized haplotypes, suggesting that they were confined to multiple Pleistocene refugia on the southeastern Australian mainland. The phylogenetic data also show that northwestern Tasmania was colonized by P. nigrovirgatum, probably from central Victoria, and northeastern Tasmania by an as yet undescribed species from eastern Victoria.