Dugesia sicula (Platyhelminthes, Tricladida): the colonizing success of an asexual Planarian.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Dugesia sicula is the only species of its genus not presenting an endemic or restricted distribution within the Mediterranean area. It mostly comprises fissiparous populations (asexual reproduction by body division and regeneration), most likely sexually sterile, and characterized by an extremely low genetic diversity interpreted as the consequence of a recent anthropic expansion. However, its fissiparous reproduction can result in an apparent lack of diversity within the species, since genetic variation within individuals can be as large as between them because most individuals within a population are clones. We have estimated haplotype and nucleotide diversity of cytochrome oxidase I within and among individuals along the species distribution of a broad sample of D. si

SUBMITTER: Lazaro EM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3922848 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature