Analysis of variation in the Elaphrus americanus complex of North America (Coleoptera: Carabidae)

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Abstract
E. americanus Dejean (sensu Lindroth 1961) is a complex of 2 nearctic species: E. americanus and E. finitimus Casey. This study is primarily devoted to E. americanus, which includes 2 spp.: a boreal subspecies [E. a. americanus] and a new western subspecies, E. a. sylvanus Goulet, for which the type locality is Coos County, (USA). The species and subspecies mentioned were recognized by means of numerical taxonomic analysis. Most intuitively acceptable were the results of phenetic clustering of Mahalanobis distances followed by a series of discriminant analyses. Various analyses were carried out based directly on computed euclidean distances (e.g., principal coordinate analyses, nonmetric multidimensional scaling) and others by computing 1st the variance-covariance matrix (e.g., principal component analyses). Other geographically distinct populations were recognized by univariate analysis of nominal characters. Phylogenetic relationships between various populations of E. americanus are partly reconstructed. A reconstruction of past distribution of these populations is presented and their evolutionary significance discussed.

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