Abstract
Genetic variations of the two coccinellid predators; Coccinella undecimpunctata L. and Hippodamia variegata (Goeze) within and between distant populations in Saudi Arabia were studied by partial sequencing of three mitochondrial genes i.e., COI gene and ribosomal 12S and 16S. Samples were collected from four distant localities for C. undecimpunctata (Jazan, Jeddah, Taif and Madinah) and from six distant localities for H variegate (Jazan, Jeddah, Taraba, Madinah, Riyadh and Tabouk). Concatenated sequences (1354 bp) were manipulated by three analytical methods (maximum parsimony, neighbor-joining and maximum-likelihood) producing one fixed tree. The A, C, G and T base compositions were 36.8, 14.5, 10.5 and 38.2%, respectively. The pair-wise genetic distances (D) among the studied populations ranged from 0.0013 to 0.0041 in case of C. undecimpuntata and from 0.0048 to 0.0128 in case of H variegata. Tree topology did not discriminate among and within populations of both species, except of Tabouk population for H. variegata which showed one cluster of all individuals. It may be concluded that the studied populations of both coccinellids showed low genetic variability. Therefore, this confirms that it has not structured along geographically separated populations in both the studied species; the genetic variability was slightly affected by either fragmentations or ecological factors.