Cryptic diversity and speciation in an endemic copepod crustacean Harpacticella inopinata within Lake Baikal.

ABSTRACT: Ancient lakes are hotspots of species diversity, posing challenges and opportunities for exploration of the dynamics of endemic diversification. Lake Baikal in Siberia, the oldest lake in the world, hosts a particularly rich crustacean fauna, including the largest known species flock of harpacticoid copepods with some 70 species. Here, we focused on exploring the diversity and evolution within a single nominal species, Harpacticella inopinata Sars, 1908, using molecular markers (mitochondrial COI, nuclear ITS1 and 28S rRNA) and a set of qualitative and quantitative morphological traits. Five major mitochondrial lineages were recognized, with model-corrected COI distances of 0.20-0.37. A concordant pattern was seen in the nuclear data set, and qualitative morphological traits also di

SUBMITTER: Kochanova E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11140236 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature