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Molecular analysis of the freshwater prawn Macrobrachium olfersii (Decapoda, Palaemonidae) supports the existence of a single species throughout its distribution.

ABSTRACT: Macrobrachium olfersii is an amphidromous freshwater prawn, widespread along the eastern coasts of the Americas. This species shows great morphological modifications during ontogenesis, and several studies have verified the existence of a wide intraspecific variation. Because of this condition, the species is often misidentified, and several synonyms have been documented. To elucidate these aspects, individuals of M. olfersii from different populations along its range of distribution were investigated. The taxonomic limit was established, and the degree of genetic variability of this species was described. We extracted DNA from 53 specimens of M. olfersii, M. americanum, M. digueti and M. faustinum, which resulted in 84 new sequences (22 of 16S mtDNA, 45 of Cythocrome Oxidase I (COI) mtDNA, and 17 of Histone (H3) nDNA). Sequences of three genes (single and concatenated) from these species were used in the Maximum Likelihood and Bayesian Inference phylogenetic analyses and COI sequences from M. olfersii were used in population analysis. The genetic variation was evaluated through the alignment of 554 bp from the 16S, 638 bp from the COI, and 338 bp from the H3. The rates of genetic divergence among populations were lower at the intraspecific level. This was confirmed by the haplotype net, which showed a continuous gene flow among populations. Although a wide distribution and high morphological intraspecific variation often suggest the existence of more than one species, genetic similarity of Caribbean and Brazilian populations of M. olfersii supported them as a single species.

SUBMITTER: Rossi N

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3561377 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Molecular analysis of the freshwater prawn Macrobrachium olfersii (Decapoda, Palaemonidae) supports the existence of a single species throughout its distribution.

Rossi Natália N Mantelatto Fernando Luis FL

PloS one 20130131 1

Macrobrachium olfersii is an amphidromous freshwater prawn, widespread along the eastern coasts of the Americas. This species shows great morphological modifications during ontogenesis, and several studies have verified the existence of a wide intraspecific variation. Because of this condition, the species is often misidentified, and several synonyms have been documented. To elucidate these aspects, individuals of M. olfersii from different populations along its range of distribution were invest ...[more]

PMID: 23382941

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Project description:The closure of the Isthmus of Panama (about 3.1 million years ago) separated previously continuous populations and created two groups of extant species, which live now in the Pacific and Atlantic drainage systems. This relatively recent event was a trigger to diversification of various species in the Neotropics, nonetheless there are exemplars that do not show sufficient morphologic variability to separate them by traditional morphological tools. About 60 years ago, some freshwater decapod species with high morphological similarity were separate by previous researchers, based on geographical distribution, in Pacific and Atlantic and considered as "sister species". However, the complete isolation of these prawns by this geographical barrier is questionable, and it has generated doubts about the status of the following transisthmian pairs of sibling species: Macrobrachiumoccidentale × Macrobrachiumheterochirus, Macrobrachiumamericanum × Macrobrachiumcarcinus, Macrobrachiumdigueti × Macrobrachiumolfersii, Macrobrachiumhancocki × Macrobrachiumcrenulatum, Macrobrachiumtenellum × Macrobrachiumacanthurus and Macrobrachiumpanamense × Macrobrachiumamazonicum. Here we evaluated the relation among these pairs of sibling species in a molecular phylogenetic context. We generated 95 new sequences: 26 sequences of 16S rDNA, 25 of COI mtDNA and 44 of 18S nDNA. In total, 181 sequences were analyzed by maximum likelihood phylogenetic method, including 12 Macrobrachium transisthmian species, as well as seven other American Macrobrachium species, and two other palaemonids. Our analysis corroborated the morphological proximity of the sibling species. Despite the high degree of morphological similarities and considerable genetic diversification encountered among the transisthmian sister species, our data support the conclusion that all species included in sibling groups studied herein are valid taxonomic entities, but not all pairs of siblings form natural groups.

Dataset Information

Molecular analysis of the freshwater prawn Macrobrachium olfersii (Decapoda, Palaemonidae) supports the existence of a single species throughout its distribution.

Publications

Molecular analysis of the freshwater prawn Macrobrachium olfersii (Decapoda, Palaemonidae) supports the existence of a single species throughout its distribution.

Similar Datasets

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