Molecular Divergence Between Two Geographically Overlapping Cryptic Crickets: Loxoblemmus campestris and L. sylvestris
- 1Department of Bioscience Nagahama Institute of Bioscience and Technology Nagahama Shiga Japan
Abstract
Understanding the minimal genetic changes underlying the earliest stages of speciation remains a central challenge in evolutionary biology. However, most model systems used to study early speciation involve pronounced ecological divergence, making it difficult to isolate the initial genetic changes associated with speciation. Here, we examined genetic differences between the cryptic cricket species Loxoblemmus campestris and L. sylvestris , which inhabit the same geographic region without pronounced ecological or morphological divergence. Despite their morphological similarity, the two species exhibited small but consistent molecular phylogenetic divergence in both mitochondrial and nuclear genomes. To investigate genetic divergence between these species, we conducted population genomic and comparative genomic analyses. We identified amino acid substitutions that were common within each species across orthologous genes and evaluated their evolutionary probabilities ( EP s) based on sequence conservation across Orthoptera. Although low EP amino acid substitutions occurred in multiple genes, three genes— Raf , Slit , and Sur‐8 —contained multiple such substitutions, and all three also showed elevated F ST values. These genes are functionally connected within the Ras/MAPK signaling pathway. These findings suggest that genetic divergence between L. campestris and L. sylvestris may involve changes concentrated in a limited number of functionally connected genes despite relatively few amino acid substitutions and limited phenotypic differentiation. Cryptic Loxoblemmus species may therefore provide useful systems for investigating early genomic divergence associated with speciation in the absence of pronounced phenotypic divergence.
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BibTeX
@article{satomura2026molecular,
title = {{Molecular Divergence Between Two Geographically Overlapping Cryptic Crickets: Loxoblemmus campestris and L. sylvestris}},
author = {Kazuhiro Satomura and Masakazu Saito and Atsushi Ogura},
journal = {Ecology and Evolution},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1002/ece3.74457},
url = {https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ece3.74457},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Molecular Divergence Between Two Geographically Overlapping Cryptic Crickets: Loxoblemmus campestris and L. sylvestris
AU - Kazuhiro Satomura
AU - Masakazu Saito
AU - Atsushi Ogura
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/21
JO - Ecology and Evolution
DO - 10.1002/ece3.74457
UR - https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ece3.74457
AB - Understanding the minimal genetic changes underlying the earliest stages of speciation remains a central challenge in evolutionary biology. However, most model systems used to study early speciation involve pronounced ecological divergence, making it difficult to isolate the initial genetic changes associated with speciation. Here, we examined genetic differences between the cryptic cricket species Loxoblemmus campestris and L. sylvestris , which inhabit the same geographic region without pronounced ecological or morphological divergence. Despite their morphological similarity, the two species exhibited small but consistent molecular phylogenetic divergence in both mitochondrial and nuclear genomes. To investigate genetic divergence between these species, we conducted population genomic and comparative genomic analyses. We identified amino acid substitutions that were common within each species across orthologous genes and evaluated their evolutionary probabilities ( EP s) based on sequence conservation across Orthoptera. Although low EP amino acid substitutions occurred in multiple genes, three genes— Raf , Slit , and Sur‐8 —contained multiple such substitutions, and all three also showed elevated F ST values. These genes are functionally connected within the Ras/MAPK signaling pathway. These findings suggest that genetic divergence between L. campestris and L. sylvestris may involve changes concentrated in a limited number of functionally connected genes despite relatively few amino acid substitutions and limited phenotypic differentiation. Cryptic Loxoblemmus species may therefore provide useful systems for investigating early genomic divergence associated with speciation in the absence of pronounced phenotypic divergence.
SN - 2045-7758
SN - 2045-7758
ER -