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It is widely accepted that the relationship between phytophagous insects and their host plants influences insect diversification. However, studies addressed at documenting host‐associated genetic differentiation (HAD) and the mechanisms that drive reproductive isolation in host‐associated lineages (or host races) are still scarce relative to insect diversity. To uncover further evidence on the HAD processes in Lepidoptera, we investigated the genetic structure of the geranium argus butterfly (Eumedonia eumedon) and tested for isolation by ecology (IBE) vs. isolation by distance (IBD). Genomic data revealed an array of host races (three of them in the same mountain range, the Cantabrian Mountains, northern Iberia) at apparently distinct levels of reproductive isolation. We found a pattern of IBE mediated by HAD at both local and European scales, in which genetic differentiation between populations and individuals correlated significantly with the taxonomic relatedness of the host plants. IBD was significant only when considered at the wider European scale. We hypothesize that, locally, HAD between Geranium‐feeding populations was caused (at least partially) by allochrony, that is via adaptation of adult flight time to the flowering period of each host plant species. Nevertheless, the potential reproductive isolation between populations using Erodium and populations using Geranium cannot be explained by allochrony or IBD, and other mechanisms are expected to be at play. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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[Display omitted] • Linear regression model served to perform saproxylic insect diversity predictions. • Higher species richness do not ensure the community's higher functional resilience. • The presence of some microhabitats reduce the vulnerability of beetle functions. • A rise in the maximum temperature decreases all saproxylic diversity metrics. • Specific management actions can easily increase the diversity of saproxylic insects. Forests of the Mediterranean Basin provide a wide range of provisioning and regulating services that are currently jeopardised by land-use change. Although many ecosystem services are mediated by insects, most of the studies that have focused on how to enhance diversity in traditionally managed forests are about plants and vertebrates. Quercus pyrenaica woodlands of the Western Iberian Peninsula constitute a scenario in which traditional human practices (i.e., extensive livestock grazing, pollarding, firewood, forest thinning, etc.), and their progressive abandonment, have generated differences in landscape that affect habitat and microhabitat structures. We used saproxylic beetles (deadwood-dependent species) as biological indicators because they are the most diverse taxa and provide important ecosystem services related to deadwood decomposition, forest pest control and pollination. We modelled the response of two taxonomic (species richness and abundance), one ecological (species diversity of order 1) and two functional (functional richness and redundancy) diversity metrics to the environmental variables that result from traditional management or its abandonment at habitat and microhabitat levels. We included 16 explanatory variables related to forest structure, tree microhabitats and abiotic factors, which were grouped into eight principal components. Linear regression was the best fitting model for data. The resulting models were used to perform diversity predictions in different scenarios. We found that abandonment of some traditional forest management activities in the Mediterranean Region reduced taxonomic saproxylic beetle diversity, which may be further aggravated by climate change. We suggest minimal management actions to improve taxonomic and ecological saproxylic beetle diversity related to habitat and tree management (i.e., maintenance of >20% scrub coverage, >20 m3/ha of deadwood on soil and >20 hollow trees/ha). However, actions that boost saproxylic biodiversity do not ensure the community's higher functional resilience. We should also promote tree microhabitat diversity to reduce the vulnerability of saproxylic beetle functions to environmental changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Palaeogeographic changes that occurred during the Middle Triassic in the westernmost Tethyan domain were governed by a westward marine transgression of the Tethys Ocean. The transgression flooded wide areas of the eastern part of Iberia, forming new epicontinental shallow-marine environments, which were subsequently colonized by diverse faunas, including chondrichthyans. The transgression is recorded by two successive transgressive–regressive cycles: (1) middle–late Anisian and (2) late Anisian–early Carnian. Here, we describe the chondrichthyan fauna recovered from several Middle Triassic stratigraphic sections (Pelsonian-Longobardian) located at the Catalan Coastal Basin (western-most Tethys). The assemblage consists of isolated teeth of the species Hybodus plicatilis , Omanoselache bucheri , O. contrarius and Pseudodalatias henarejensis. Our data complement a series of recent studies on chondrichthyan faunas from Middle-Late Triassic marine basins of the Iberian Peninsula, allowing us to evaluate patterns of faunal colonization. Sharks that reached East Iberia during the first transgressive pulse (Anisian) show strong affinities with the Sephardic bioprovince (related with the Neotethys Ocean) whereas a later increase in chondrichthyan diversity (during the Ladinian transgressive pulse) is due to the arrival of taxa with affinities to European faunas (Palaeotethys). This contrasts with recently evaluated colonization patterns of invertebrates and conodonts, where Middle–Upper Anisian assemblages are composed of taxa with affinities to the Alpine/Germanic bioprovince whereas faunas from the Sephardic bioprovince only reached the shallow waters of the Iberian peninsula during the second (Ladinian) transgressive pulse. The differences between chondrichthyans vs. invertebrate and conodonts colonization patterns are explained here on the basis of differing dispersal strategies. Our finding suggests the existence, during the Anisian, of connections between Palaeo- and NeoTethys through the western Cimmerian microcontinent, which served as pathways for the entrance of chondrichthyans from the Sephardic bioprovince. • Small coastal species dominated Triassic shark communities of E Iberia shallow seas. • Colonization pattern followed by chondrichthyans differs from those of invertebrates. • Different dispersal (pelagic stage vs adult vagility) explain dissimilar colonization paths. • Faunal corridors between Palaeo- and NeoTethys during the Anisian • A proposal of prevailing system of oceanic currents at westernmost Tethys is provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]