Phylogeography of the stonefly <i>Kamimuria tibialis</i>: multiple glacial refugia and sympatric occurrence of different lineages in the southern islands of Japan

Abstract To elucidate the effect of Pleistocene climatic fluctuations on historical distribution and geographical genetic structure temperate Japanese species, we performed phylogeographical demographic analyses using mitochondrial gene sequences obtained from stonefly species Kamimuria tibialis, sampled four main islands Archipelago (i.e. Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku Kyushu) Tsushima Island. We detected three clades with distinct distributions, including Tsushima, Kyushu Hokkaido–Honshu–Shikoku phylogroups. These groups were estimated to have diverged one another 0.54–2.02 Mya, suggesting they undergone several glacial cycles in different refugia. Our results showed that during epochs a fall sea-level, flow was limited among Kyushu, Hokkaido probably because straits between these are deep. The population Shikoku, southernmost islands, exhibited high diversity, two haplotype lineages occurring sympatrically. suggest division into multiple refugia existence stable southern contributed diversity this region.