Population genomics and phylogeography of the boll weevil, Anthonomus
grandis Boheman (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), in the United States,
northern Mexico, and Argentina
Abstract
Despite the success of the United States (US) Boll Weevil Eradication
Program, the boll weevil, Anthonomus grandis Boheman (Coleoptera:
Curculionidae), remains a threat to cotton production in the southern US
and is arguably the most important cotton pest in Central and South
America. Management of this species is complicated by the existence of
morphologically similar variants and re-infestations of areas where
eradication had been successful. To date, no study has applied a
high-throughput sequencing approach to better understand the population
genetic structure of the boll weevil. Furthermore, only a single study
has investigated genetic relationships between populations in North and
South America. Here, we used double digest restriction site-associated
DNA sequencing (ddRADseq) to resolve the population genomic structure of
the boll weevil in the southern US, northern Mexico, and Argentina, test
the two-form and three-form hypotheses of boll weevil variation in North
America using a phylogeographic approach, and determine the relationship
of the South American populations to the North. Our results supported
the two-form hypothesis of boll weevil variation in North America
wherein there are two major genetic lineages – one consisting of
populations found geographically west of the Sierra Madre Occidental
mountain range and the second consisting of populations found to the
east – both are highly sub-structured across space and time. Boll
weevil populations from Argentina were more closely related to the
eastern lineage, suggesting a range expansion by the eastern lineage,
but additional sampling across Central and South America is needed to
determine a probable origin.