Looking beneath the tip of the iceberg: diversification of the genus Epimeria on the Antarctic shelf (Crustacea, Amphipoda)
The amphipod genus Epimeria is very speciose in Antarctic waters. Although their brooding biology, massive and heavily calcified body predict low dispersal capabilities, many Epimeria species are documented to have circum-Antarctic distributions. However, these distribution records are inevitably de...
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Published in | Polar biology Vol. 39; no. 5; pp. 925 - 945 |
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Main Authors | , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
Berlin/Heidelberg
Springer Berlin Heidelberg
01.05.2016
Springer Springer Nature B.V |
Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | The amphipod genus
Epimeria
is very speciose in Antarctic waters. Although their brooding biology, massive and heavily calcified body predict low dispersal capabilities, many
Epimeria
species are documented to have circum-Antarctic distributions. However, these distribution records are inevitably dependent on the morphological species definition. Yet, recent DNA evidence suggests that some of these
Epimeria
species may be complexes of species with restricted distributions. Mitochondrial COI and nuclear 28S rDNA sequence data were used to infer evolutionary relationships among 16 nominal
Epimeria
species from the Antarctic Peninsula, the eastern Weddell Sea and the Adélie Coast. Based on this phylogenetic framework, we used morphology and the DNA-based methods GMYC, bPTP and BPP to investigate species boundaries, in order to revise the diversity and distribution patterns within the genus. Most of the studied species appeared to be complexes of pseudocryptic species, presenting small and previously overlooked morphological differences. Altogether, 25 lineages were identified as putative new species, increasing twofold the actual number of Antarctic
Epimeria
species. Whereas most of the species may be geographically restricted to one of the three studied regions, some still have very wide distribution ranges, hence suggesting a potential for large-scale dispersal. |
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Bibliography: | ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 |
ISSN: | 0722-4060 1432-2056 |
DOI: | 10.1007/s00300-016-1910-5 |