Disturbed population genetics: suspected introgressive hybridization between two Mnais damselfly species (Odonata)

Mnais costalis and M. pruinosa are damselflies (Odonata: Calopterygidae) with low dispersal abilities, both during their aquatic stream-living immature stage and their flying adult stage. A previous nuclear DNA (nDNA) sequencing and morphology study showed that these two species are very closely related, and cohabit widely in western Japan. The two species, however, segregate microhabitats along a stream: M. costalis lives in the lower reaches, and M. pruinosa in the upper reaches. In this study, our analyses were based on mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), which usually mutates faster and is more variable among individuals than nDNA, and which is inherited maternally. We found that most COI haplotypes were shared between the two species, and that for most study sites interspecific riverine genetic structures were not clarified by mtDNA analysis. Incongruent population genetic structures based on nDNA and mtDNA suggested hybridization and introgression of mtDNA between the two species.