The cryptic and the apparent reversed: lack of genetic differentiation within the morphologically diverse plexus of the planktonic foraminifer Globigerinoides sacculifer

• Published in: Paleobiology
• Main Authors: Andre, Aurore, Weiner, Agnes, Quillevere, Frederic, Aurahs, Ralf, Morard, Raphaël, Douady, Christophe Jean, de Garidel-Thoron, Thibault, Escarguel, Gilles, de Vargas, Colomban, Kucera, Michal
• Other Authors: Laboratoire de Géologie de Lyon - Terre, Planètes, Environnement (LGL-TPE), École normale supérieure de Lyon (ENS de Lyon)-Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 (UCBL), Université de Lyon-Université de Lyon-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Jean Monnet - Saint-Étienne (UJM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Zentrum für Marine Umweltwissenschaften Bremen (MARUM), Universität Bremen, Adaptation et diversité en milieu marin (AD2M), Station biologique de Roscoff Roscoff (SBR), Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Équipe 3 - Écologie, Évolution, Écosystemes Souterrains (E3S), Laboratoire d'Ecologie des Hydrosystèmes Naturels et Anthropisés (LEHNA), Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 (UCBL), Université de Lyon-Université de Lyon-École Nationale des Travaux Publics de l'État (ENTPE)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 (UCBL), Université de Lyon-Université de Lyon-École Nationale des Travaux Publics de l'État (ENTPE)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Centre européen de recherche et d'enseignement des géosciences de l'environnement (CEREGE), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-Aix Marseille Université (AMU)-Collège de France (CdF (institution))-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2013
• Subjects: [SDU.STU.PG]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Paleontology; [SDE.BE]Environmental Sciences/Biodiversity and Ecology; [SDV.BID.SPT]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Biodiversity/Systematics; Phylogenetics and taxonomy; [SDV.BID.EVO]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Biodiversity/Populations and Evolution [q-bio.PE]; Pacific; Planktonic foraminifera
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-00797451; https://doi.org/10.1666/0094-8373-39.1.21

International audience Previous genetic studies of extant planktonic foraminifera have provided evidence that the traditional, strictly morphological definition of species in these organisms underestimates their biodiversity. Here, we report the first case where this pattern is reversed. The modern (sub)tropical species plexus Globigerinoides sacculifer is characterized by large morphological variability, which has led to the proliferation of taxonomic names attributed to morphological end-members within the plexus. In order to clarify the taxonomic status of its morphotypes and to investigate the genetic connectivity among its currently partly disjunct (sub)tropical populations, we carried out a global survey of two ribosomal RNA regions (SSU and ITS-1) in all recent morphotypes of the plexus collected throughout (sub)tropical surface waters of the global ocean. Unexpectedly, we find an extremely reduced genetic variation within the plexus and no correlation between genetic and morphological divergence, suggesting taxonomical overinterpretation. The genetic homogeneity within the morphospecies is unexpected, considering its partly disjunct range in the (sub)tropical Atlantic and Indo-Pacific and its old age (early Miocene). A sequence variant in the rapidly evolving ITS-1 region indicates the existence of an exclusively Atlantic haplotype, which suggests an episode of relatively recent (last glacial) isolation, followed by subsequent resumption of unidirectional gene flow from the Indo-Pacific into the Atlantic. This is the first example in planktonic foraminifera where the morphological variability in a morphospecies exceeds its rDNA genetic variability. Such evidence for inconsistent scaling of morphological and genetic diversity in planktonic foraminifera could complicate the interpretation of evolutionary patterns in their fossil record.