High cryptic diversity across the global range of the migratory planktonic copepods Pleuromamma piseki and P. gracilis.

ABSTRACT: Although holoplankton are ocean drifters and exhibit high dispersal potential, a number of studies on single species are finding highly divergent genetic clades. These cryptic species complexes are important to discover and describe, as identification of common marine species is fundamental to understanding ecosystem dynamics. Here we investigate the global diversity within Pleuromamma piseki and P. gracilis, two dominant members of the migratory zooplankton assemblage in subtropical and tropical waters worldwide. Using DNA sequence data from the mitochondrial gene cytochrome c oxidase subunit II (mtCOII) from 522 specimens collected across the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans, we discover twelve well-resolved genetically distinct clades in this species complex (Bayesian posterior proba

SUBMITTER: Halbert KM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3805563 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature