Genetic diversity of the invasive box tree moth, Cydalima perspectalis, in its native and invaded areas and preliminary phylogeographic approach.

During the recent decades, ornamental plant trade has triggered the introduction of alien invasive insects in Europe. An ever increasing number of these alien species originates from Asia, such as the box tree moth Cydalima perspectalis, a species native of China, Korea and Japan, which has recently been introduced into Europe. Since its first observation in Germany in 2007, the box tree moth has spread rapidly all over Europe, causing important damage on commonly planted ornamental box trees. The ornamental trade between Europe and China is hypothesized as the pathway of its primary introduction while the trade within Europe could have favored its rapid spread. In order to disentangle invasion pathways, samples of C. perspectalis were collected in China, Korea and in 13 of the 25 invaded European countries. We analyzed 174 sequences of mitochondrial markers COI and COII from the native and invaded areas in order to check the genetic variability, and to develop a preliminary phylogeographical approach. In the Asian populations, we observed 7 haplotypes divided into 3 haplogroups, and 4 of those haplotypes were also observed in Europe. Our preliminary results did not show evidence of genetic structure in the native range, which did not allow to define the potential donor regions but the presence of several Asian haplotypes in Europe in addition to a low but significant geographical structure is in favor of multiple introductions. Nevertheless, more populations need to be sampled in the area of origin together with the definition of more polymorphic markers in order to better understand the invasion pathways of C. perspectalis.