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ViewAttendees 1

10-Minute Paper

Systematics, Evolution, and Biodiversity

SysEB: Biogeography

Population genomic structure in a long-lived dragonfly species

Wednesday, November 8, 2023
9:12 AM – 9:24 AM ET
Location: Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center, Chesapeake J-K
In-Person

Species in the dragonfly family Petaluridae are notable for a number of reasons, including their evolutionary age (many have persisted since the Cretaceous era), their long life span (5+ years as nymphs) and their use of fen habitats (rather than streams or ponds) to complete their life cycle.  The nymphs of most species dig and maintain a burrow, which they live in until they are ready to emerge as adults.  We are studying the genomics and life history of the Black Petaltail (Tanypteryx hageni), distributed from southern British Columbia to California. Using a newly assembled chromosome-level genome and 5X whole genome resequencing data, we are investigating genomic diversity within and among multiple populations in the mountains of northern California and Oregon.  We are pairing these results with studies of nymph and adult behavior.  During the summer of 2023, we documented that Black Petaltail nymphs—while they maintain burrows sometimes in excess of 0.5m in depth—often leave their burrows, moving around on the surface of the fen in daylight and night-time hours.  This is a surprising activity for an obligate aquatic organism, raising questions about their adaptations to this lifestyle (mobility, ability to attack prey, desiccation avoidance, vision) when they are presumably adapted to life underwater.  Comparing our genome assembly to transcriptomes of other Petaltail species we have identified a number of opsins, associated with detection of blue, long-wave and UV light.  This diversity of opsins may reflect the different light environments associated with aquatic and terrestrial activity.