Integrative description of bisexual Paramacrobiotus experimentalis sp. nov. (Macrobiotidae) from Republic of Madagascar (Africa) with microbiome analysis

Publication date: Available online 3 January 2020Source: Molecular Phylogenetics and EvolutionAuthor(s): Łukasz Kaczmarek, Milena Roszkowska, Izabela Poprawa, Kamil Janelt, Hanna Kmita, Magdalena Gawlak, Edyta Fiałkowska, Monika MioduchowskaAbstractIn a moss samples collected on Madagascar two populations of Paramacrobiotus experimentalis sp. nov. were found. Paramacrobiotus experimentalis sp. nov. with the presence of a microplacoid and areolatus type of the eggs is similar to Pam. danielae, Pam. garynahi, Pam. hapukuensis, Pam. peteri, Pam. rioplatensis and Pam. savai, but it differs from them by some morphological and morphometric characters of eggs. The p-distance between two COI haplotypes of Pam. experimentalis sp. nov. was 0.17%. In turn, the ranges of uncorrected genetic p-distances of all Paramacrobiotus species available in GenBank was from 18.27% (for Pam. lachowskae) to 25.26% (for Pam. arduus) with an average distance of 20.67%. We also found that Pam. experimentalis sp. nov. is bisexual. This observation was congruent on three levels: i) morphological – specimen size dimorphism; ii) structural (primary sexual characteristics) – females have an unpaired ovary while males have an unpaired testis and iii) molecular – heterozygous and homozygous strains of the ITS-2 marker. Although symbiotic associations of hosts with bacteria (including endosymbiotic bacteria) are common in nature and these interactions exert various effects on the evolution, biology and r...
Source: Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution - Category: Molecular Biology Source Type: research