Passcode: 12345

Intraspecific genetic diversity is a crucial component of biodiversity, providing insights into the ecological and evolutionary processes that shape populations. This study investigated the drivers of genetic diversity in centipedes, an ancient group of soil arthropods with low dispersal ability, exhibiting variation in species traits and biogeography. A database was assembled containing 1,245 mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I sequences, representing 128 centipede species from all five orders of Chilopoda. This dataset was used to estimate genetic diversity in centipede species and compare its distribution with estimates from other arthropod groups. Variation in centipede genetic diversity was analyzed in relation to species traits and biogeography using a beta regression framework, while accounting for the effect of shared evolutionary history within a family. A wide range of genetic diversity values was observed across centipede species (0 to 0.1713), positioning them at the higher end of genetic diversity among arthropods. Overall, 27.57% of the variation in mitochondrial COI genetic diversity in centipedes was explained by a combination of predictors associated with life history and biogeography.

Genetic diversity was found to decrease with body size and the latitudinal position of sampled localities, while it was greater in species exhibiting maternal care and increased with geographic distance among conspecifics. Centipedes exhibit relatively high genetic diversity among arthropods, which may be linked to their long evolutionary history and low dispersal ability. The negative association between body size and genetic diversity in centipedes may be influenced by its effect on local abundance or the impact of ecological strategies on long-term population history. Species that exhibited maternal care had higher genetic diversity, a pattern that contradicts expectations and warrants further investigation. Hemispheric differences in genetic diversity may be attributed to historical climatic stability and lower seasonality in the Southern Hemisphere. Despite variations in mean genetic diversity across animal groups, similar processes related to life history strategy and biogeography appear to influence genetic diversity within them.

Jahnavi Joshi is an evolutionary biologist at the CSIR Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology in Hyderabad, India. Her research examines multiple dimensions of biodiversity and the underlying evolutionary processes that create it in the tropical forest, specifically on two mountain ranges: the Western Ghats, a global biodiversity hotspot, and the relatively less explored Eastern Ghats in peninsular India. She integrates diverse approaches, including extensive fieldwork, molecular phylogenetics, traditional specimen-based systematics, comparative methods, and species distribution modelling. 

Passcode: 12345