Range of Occurrence of Bisexual and Parthenogenetic Populations of Labidostomma luteum (Acari: Prostigmata) in Europe
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
The manuscript entitled "Range of occurrence of bisexual and parthenogenetic populations of Labidostomma luteum (Acari: Prostigmata) in Europe" documents the range of bisexual populations of the L. luteum in Europe as well as shows the SEM micrographs of males of the species for the first time. The Authors have a great experience in studying Labidostommidae. The place of species origin and possible migration routes have been already discussed in one of the previous works of Authors; the present manuscript focuses on the north-eastern border of range of bisexual populations of L. luteum. Based on the present data, the Authors have set a temporary border between bisexual and parthenogenetic populations in France. As I understand, the area that currently requires intensive research on L. luteum is territory of France located to the east from demarcated line. The manuscript expands our understanding of the geographical parthenogenesis in L. luteum and, in my opinion, should be accepted in Diversity, however, there are few points that Authors should consider – I have added some corrections and comments to the reviewed manuscript.
Comments for author File: 
Comments.pdf
Author Response
Range of occurrence of bisexual and parthenogenetic popula-tions of Labidostomma luteum (Acari: Prostigmata) in Europe
The authors of the study are grateful to the Reviewer for all comments and suggestions. All of them have turned out to be extremely helpful, which obviously has considerably improved the overall quality of the manuscript.
Detailed responses to the Reviewer comments:
- All necessary information and corrections suggested by Reviewer has been provided in the manuscript.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
This paper provides information on the geographic variability of sex ratios in the mite Labidostomma luteum to derive conclusions on the historical biogeography of this species.
The new information in this ms is relatively few; the description of two new samples collected in France, and the scanning electron microscopy of male individuals. More importantly, this ms also acts as a review paper, summarizing former results on the geographic variability of sex ratios.
Suggestion:
1. Please tell in the introduction, why to presume that the occurrence of bisexual populations likely indicates the area of origin, in contrast with the areas of parthenogenetic populations, that likely occupy recently invaded areas. Add a few general references to show that this is a widely accepted view.
2. Line 125: "sex ratio was 1.5:1"
Do not express sex-ratio as a division of the numbers of males/females, or females/males. This latter expression, that you actually apply here, makes no sense in parthenogoenetic populations, where the number of males is zero. (since you cannot divide a number by zero).
Rather, express sex ratios as the number of males divided by the total number of (sexed) individuals. In this case, the sex ratio equals 55/135=0.41. Thus sex ratio is 0.3 in your other sample. Worth to mention that these two ratios do not differ significantly from an equal (0.5) ratio (Fisher's exact test).
3. Line 156:
"reduction in the proportion of males in" would be better
4. Line 165:
what does "initial soil" means? Explain or delete this term.
Author Response
Range of occurrence of bisexual and parthenogenetic popula-tions of Labidostomma luteum (Acari: Prostigmata) in Europe
The authors of the study are grateful to the Reviewer for all comments and suggestions. All of them have turned out to be extremely helpful, which obviously has considerably improved the overall quality of the manuscript.
Detailed responses to the Reviewer comments:
- Please tell in the introduction, why to presume that the occurrence of bisexual populations likely indicates the area of origin, in contrast with the areas of parthenogenetic populations, that likely occupy recently invaded areas. Add a few general references to show that this is a widely accepted view.
- The populations with both sexes are prior in relation to all female populations. Our previous observations indicate that in many species of Uropodina there is a tendency to reduce males. The sex ratio is from 1: 100 to 1: 2000 (Błoszyk et al. 2004). When only female populations are observed in a large area, and both sexes are present somewhere, such a place should be considered the place of origin of the species. Previously, a similar situation was observed in the case of Polyaspinus cylindricus (Błoszyk and Olszanowski 1985; Błoszyk 1999; Błoszyk and Halliday 2000). A similar phenomenon was also observed in beetles inhabiting the area after the retreat of the glacier. There were only female populations in the newly exposed areas. In all these cases, we are dealing with geographical parthenogenesis.
- Line 125: "sex ratio was 1.5:1"
Do not express sex-ratio as a division of the numbers of males/females, or females/males. This latter expression, that you actually apply here, makes no sense in parthenogoenetic populations, where the number of males is zero. (since you cannot divide a number by zero).
Rather, express sex ratios as the number of males divided by the total number of (sexed) individuals. In this case, the sex ratio equals 55/135=0.41. Thus sex ratio is 0.3 in your other sample. Worth to mention that these two ratios do not differ significantly from an equal (0.5) ratio (Fisher's exact test).
- The sex ratio (as the ratio of males to females) has long been used in the case of Uropodina. It seems to be more illustrative than the percentage representation. For example: in the case of the species Trachytes aegrota in Poland, 3 males per 60,000 females were found. Sex ratio 1: 20,000, percentage 0.005%. In the first case, the data are immediately readable, in the second, you need to perform a mathematical operation to calculate how many females are per one male. Of course, the result is exactly the same.
- Line 156:
"reduction in the proportion of males in" would be better
- The correction has been made in the manuscript.
- Line 165:
what does "initial soil" means? Explain or delete this term.
- Initial soil is a first stage of soil development after deglaciation.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 3 Report
Manuscript intitled: “Range of occurrence of bisexual and parthenogenetic populations of Labidostomma luteum (Acari: Prostigmata) in Europe”
The authors present an “interesting case of geographic parthenogenesis among European mites from the Labidostommidae family (Acari: Prostigmata). In earlier publications on Labidostomma luteum Kramer, 1879, the authors pointed out that most of the populations of this species in Europe consist of parthenogenetic females. Until now, populations of both sexes were known only from southwestern France. In the north-west areas, the number of males in the populations is gradually lower, and in the populations found in the west of Paris there are no males at all. During the research project carried out in 2018, Błoszyk found the presence of populations which consist of both sexes of the species in question near the town of Bény (60 km NE of Lion). It is the easternmost site of L. luteum in France where males have been found. All other known sites located east and north of the Béna-Paris line is had only parthenogenetic females. Thus, this line can be considered as the boundary of L. luteum populations reproducing sexually. However, establishing of the exact course of this range requires further research”.
The presented manuscript contains a study that is proper for Diversity Journal.
The information presented in the manuscript is new, original, well-structured and well documented.
- The manuscript is sustained by a suitable and complete literature.
- The information from the manuscript is well structured.
- The title of the manuscript reflects the content.
- The introduction offers the proper arguments for the objectives of the study.
- The manuscript hypothesis are clear presented and argued.
- The results and discussions are proper described and presented. The authors present new and original data.
- The figures reveal properly the described results/data.
- Some minor comments were included in the manuscript!
Due to the scientific quality of the manuscript, I strongly recommend its publication in Diversity Journal.
Comments for author File: Comments.pdf
Author Response
Range of occurrence of bisexual and parthenogenetic popula-tions of Labidostomma luteum (Acari: Prostigmata) in Europe
The authors of the study are grateful to the Reviewer for all comments and suggestions. All of them have turned out to be extremely helpful, which obviously has considerably improved the overall quality of the manuscript.
Detailed responses to the Reviewer comments:
- All necessary information, references and corrections suggested by Reviewer has been provided in the manuscript.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
