AUTHOR=Liu Hong-Ling , Chen Zhi-Teng , Liu Chao , Wu Xing-Long , Xiao Ke-Jun , Pu De-Qiang 

TITLE=Population Genetics of the Black Citrus Aphid Aphis aurantii (Hemiptera, Aphididae) in China

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution

VOLUME=9

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/ecology-and-evolution/articles/10.3389/fevo.2021.702178

DOI=10.3389/fevo.2021.702178

ISSN=2296-701X

ABSTRACT=<p>The black citrus aphid, <italic>Aphis aurantii</italic><xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B2">Boyer de Fonscolombe, 1841</xref>, is one of the most destructive pests in commercial tea plantations and gardens in China. In this study, we investigated the population genetic structure of <italic>A. aurantii</italic> based on the concatenated sequences of two mitochondrial genes, cytochrome c oxidase I (<italic>cox1</italic>) and cytochrome b (<italic>cytb</italic>). A total of 166 haplotypes were identified from 177 individuals collected at 11 locations in China. The whole Chinese <italic>A. aurantii</italic> population showed a low nucleotide diversity (0.00968) and a high population diversity (haplotype diversity; 0.9991). The haplotypes of the 11 local populations were widely distributed in the neighbor-joining phylogenetic tree and haplotype network diagram, whereas no apparent lineages were detected. Gene flow analysis showed gene exchanges among local populations. The pairwise <italic>F</italic><sub>st</sub> values revealed a certain amount of genetic difference among local populations. Analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) reflected genetic differences both within and among populations. The isolation by distance (IBD) analysis revealed a high positive correlation between the geographic distance and genetic distance of the different populations. Neutral test and mismatch distribution suggested that <italic>A. aurantii</italic> may have experienced recent population expansion events.</p>