Global species delimitation of the cosmopolitan marine littoral earthworm Pontodrilus litoralis (Grube, 1855).

ABSTRACT: The marine littoral earthworm Pontodrilus litoralis (Grube, 1855) is widely distributed and is reported as a single species. This study utilized an integrative taxonomic approach based upon morphological examination, phylogenetic reconstruction, and molecular species delimitation, to test whether the taxon is a single species or a species complex. For this, a total of 114 P. litoralis specimens collected from North America, Africa, Australia and Oceania, Europe and Asia were used. The phylogenetic analyses revealed deeply divergent mitochondrial lineages and a high level of genetic diversity among P. litoralis populations. Both single and multi-locus species delimitation analyses yielded several molecular operational taxonomic units. Therefore, due to the homogeneity of morphological chara

SUBMITTER: Seesamut T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10799051 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature