Genetic divergence of tanaidaceans (Crustacea: Peracarida) with low dispersal ability

In this study, the phylogeographic patterns of nuclear, ribosomal and mtDNA gene fragments of five tanaidacean species (Zeuxo, Tanaidae) from the Atlantic, Pacific and Mediterranean Sea were investigated. We aimed to interpret results in the framework of current hypotheses on the distribution of sma...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Scientia Marina
Main Authors: Kim Larsen, Fernando Tuya, Elsa Froufe
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas 2014
Subjects:
28s
h3
coi
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.3989/scimar.03878.19A
https://doaj.org/article/f774c2ef4c60429aba3876ef7394f6fc
Description
Summary:In this study, the phylogeographic patterns of nuclear, ribosomal and mtDNA gene fragments of five tanaidacean species (Zeuxo, Tanaidae) from the Atlantic, Pacific and Mediterranean Sea were investigated. We aimed to interpret results in the framework of current hypotheses on the distribution of small invertebrates with very limited dispersal ability. Evidence for a surprisingly high genetic divergence was found for intertidal tanaidaceans from the North Atlantic. This is a result of poor dispersal potential, as tanaidaceans have direct development, no pelagic stage, and very limited swimming capacity. However, lower genetic divergence was found between an intertidal tanaid species from the North Atlantic and two from the North Pacific, which suggests a scenario of recent colonization following the last glacial maximum. The species Zeuxo normani was found to be a species complex consisting, at least, of Z. normani (California), Z. cf. normani (Japan), Z. cf. normani (Australia), Z. sp. A (Korea), and Z. holdichi (Spain and France). Our results showed that traditional species identification underestimates tanaidacean diversity and that what have been previously perceived as reliable diagnostic morphological characters, are, however, variable and unreliable.