When ecological transitions are not so infrequent: independent colonizations of athalassohaline water bodies by Arcellidae (Arcellinida; Amoebozoa), with descriptions of four new species.

ABSTRACT: The salinity and humidity barriers divide biodiversity and strongly influence the distribution of organisms. Crossing them opens the possibility for organisms to colonize new niches and diversify, but requires profound physiological adaptations and is supposed to happen rarely in evolutionary history. We tested the relative importance of each ecological barrier by building the phylogeny, based on mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase gene (COI) sequences, of a group of microorganisms common in freshwater and soils, the Arcellidae (Arcellinida; Amoebozoa). We explored the biodiversity of this family in the sediments of athalassohaline water bodies (i.e. of fluctuating salinity that have non-marine origins). We found three new aquatic species, which represent, to the best of our knowledge, the fi

SUBMITTER: Useros F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10389689 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature