Orogeny, sympatry and emergence of a new genus of Alpine subterranean Trechini (Coleoptera: Carabidae)

Despite two centuries of research in European subterranean habitats, which resulted in descriptions of numerous obligate subterranean beetle species, the role of ecological differentiation in speciation of subterranean beetles remains understudied. Discovery of a new genus and a species of Alpine subterranean Trechini beetles, Petraphaenops unguiculatus gen. & sp. nov., enables us to question the reasons for its morphological and ecological divergence. Multilocus, time-calibrated phylogeny and extensive morphological analyses were used to place the evolution of the species in a temporal and palaeogeographical framework. Set within the phylogeny of Alpine Trechini, the new genus is shown to have split from its sister-genus, Aphaenopidius, by the end of the Pliocene. The timeline of the split between these closely related genera corresponds to the onset of major orogenetic events in the southern Calcareous Alps. The orogeny dynamics, coupled with simultaneous diversification of subterranean habitats, presumably initiated ecological speciation and morphological diversification of this highly troglomorphic subterranean trechine genus.