High climatic ancestral affinity between the lineages of the Leishmania vector Psathyromyia shannoni sensu stricto (Diptera: Phlebotominae)

Psathyromyia (Psathyromyia) shannoni sensu stricto (Dyar) is a vector of Leishmania parasite and the second sandfly of medical importance with a wide geographical but discontinuous distribution in America. Preliminary genetic structure analysis using a mitochondrial marker shows that the species integrated by at least four lineages could be the result of ecological adaptations to different environmental scenarios, but this hypothesis had never been proven. The aim of the present study was to analyse whether the genetic structure that detected Pa. shannoni ss. is associated with divergence or conservatism niche. Using Ecological Niche Models (ENMs) theory, we estimated the potential distribution for each genetic lineage, and then, we evaluated the equivalency niche for assessing whether climatic niche was more different than expected. The ENMs identify different suitable distribution areas but the same climatic or ecological conditions for the genetic lineages of Pa. shannoni (conservatism niche). Our findings allow us to speculate that other potential processes or events could be related to the genetic differentiation of Pa. shannoni. These studies are important because they allow us to identify the factors that could restrict the potential distribution of the different lineages whose vectorial competence is still unknown. We used for the first time Ecological Niche Models (ENMs) to assess ecological divergence among four lineages of Psathyromyia (Psathyromyia) shannoni sensu stricto. For the construction of the ENM, the seasonal temperature variable is consistent in all lineages. All lineages of Pa. shannoni ss. showed ecological niche conservatism.