A molecular analysis of the genus Abax (Pterostichidae) has been carried out based on the sequencing of a mitochondrial cox gene fragment and the nuclear its-2 or 28S genes. The three subgenera which are included within Abax on morphological grounds, namely Abacopercus, Abax s. str. and Pterostichoabax were partially supported. Abacopercus is a monotypic subgenus including A. schueppeli and is sister to the other species of the genus. Pterostichoabax is sister to a clade made up by species of the ‘parallelus’ group (parallelus, carinatus, baenningeri, pilleri, oblongus, and continuus), which are currently members of the subgenus Abax. The other species of this subgenus (parallelepipedus, fiorii, ovalis and pyrenaeus) make up a separate clade, what renders the subgenus Abax as polyphyletic.

The geographic framework of these results suggests that the ancestors of Abax appeared in the Carpathian area, where they gave rise to A. schueppeli. Successive cladogenetic events and expansion from the Carpathians to the Alps and the Pyrenees may have originated two main lineages, Abax sensu stricto and Pterostichoabax plus the ‘parallelus’ group. All these lineages have originated a number of species in temperate forests mostly concentrated in the southern axis of Eastern and Central Alps, but all the Pterostichoabax species and two taxa of the parallelus group shifted its habitat into the alpine grass mats above the treeline during one or more ice age times.

Evolutionary patterns Abax Carabidae Molecular Phylogeny

José Serrano

19thECM oral communication