Species delimitation and mitogenome phylogenetics in the subterranean genus Pseudoniphargus (Crustacea: Amphipoda)

Publication date: Available online 10 July 2018Source: Molecular Phylogenetics and EvolutionAuthor(s): Morten Stokkan, José A. Jurado-Rivera, Oromí Pedro, Carlos Juan, Damià Jaume, Joan PonsAbstractThe amphi-Atlantic distributions exhibited by many thalassoid stygobiont (obligate subterranean) crustaceans have been explained by fragmentation by plate tectonics of ancestral shallow water marine populations. The amphipod stygobiont genus Pseudoniphargus is distributed across the Mediterranean region but also in the North Atlantic archipelagos of Bermuda, Azores, Madeira and the Canaries. We used species delimitation methods and mitogenome phylogenetic analyses to clarify the species diversity and evolutionary relationships within the genus and timing their diversification. Analyses included samples from the Iberian Peninsula, northern Morocco, the Balearic, Canarian, Azores and Madeira archipelagoes plus Bermuda. In most instances, morphological and molecular-based species delimitation analyses yielded consistent results. Notwithstanding, in a few cases either incipient speciation with no involvement of detectable morphological divergence or species crypticism were the most plausible explanations for the disagreement found between morphological and molecular species delimitations. Phylogenetic analyses based on a robust calibrated mitochondrial tree suggested that Pseudoniphargus lineages have a younger age than for other thalassoid amphipods displaying a disjunct distributi...

Source: Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution - July 10, 2018 Category: Molecular Biology Source Type: research