Phylogeography of supralittoral rocky intertidal Ligia isopods in the pacific region from central California to central Mexico.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Ligia isopods are widely distributed in the Pacific rocky intertidal shores from central California to central Mexico, including the Gulf of California. Yet, their biological characteristics restrict them to complete their life cycles in a very narrow range of the rocky intertidal supralittoral. Herein, we examine phylogeographic patterns of Ligia isopods from 122 localities between central California and central Mexico. We expect to find high levels of allopatric diversity. In addition, we expect the phylogeographic patterns to show signatures of past vicariant events that occurred in this geologically dynamic region.

Methodology/principal findings

We sequenced two mitochondrial genes (Cytochrome Oxidase I and 16S ribosomal DNA). We conducted Maximum Likelihood a

SUBMITTER: Hurtado LA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2908127 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature