Identifying earthworms (Oligochaeta, Megadrili) of the Southern Kuril Islands using DNA barcodes

he Kuril Islands are a volcanic archipelago located between Hokkaido and Kamchatka. In this study we investigated earthworm fauna of three of the Southern Kuril Islands, Kunashir, Shikotan, and Yuri, using both morphological analysis and DNA barcoding. Our results highlight the potential of DNA barc...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Shekhovtsov, S. V., Sundukov, Yu. N., Blakemore, R. J., Gongalsky, K. B., Peltek, S. E.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Spanish
Published: Museu de Ciències Naturals de Barcelona 2018
Subjects:
Earthworms
Megadrili
cox1
Barcoding
Kuril islands
Zoology
QL1-991
Kamchatka
Online Access:https://doaj.org/article/c12a0011487247419e42a1721ad1a294
Description
Summary:he Kuril Islands are a volcanic archipelago located between Hokkaido and Kamchatka. In this study we investigated earthworm fauna of three of the Southern Kuril Islands, Kunashir, Shikotan, and Yuri, using both morphological analysis and DNA barcoding. Our results highlight the potential of DNA barcoding for studying earthworm fauna: while previous studies reported only six earthworm species and subspecies on the Southern Kurils, we detected 15 genetic clusters. Six of them correspond to European cosmopolites; six, to Asian species, and three, to unidentified species. While no European earthworms were found on Yuri that is uninhabited since WWII, they dominated on larger and inhabited Kunashir and Shikotan, suggesting that they are recent invaders. Of the six Asian species, five had cox1 sequences identical or very closely related to published sequences from the mainland or the Japanese islands and thus are recent invaders.

Similar Items