TY - JOUR
T1 - The genetic structure of the marine flatworm Stylochoplana pusilla (Rhabditophora
T2 - Polycladida) and its use of intertidal snails
AU - Yamazaki, Daishi
AU - Aota, Tomoki
AU - Chiba, Satoshi
N1 - Funding Information:
Daishi Yamazaki was supported by the Sasakawa Scientific Research Grant from The Japan Science Society (Research number: 2018-5017).
Publisher Copyright:
© Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2020
PY - 2020/8/1
Y1 - 2020/8/1
N2 - Although marine phylogeographers have accumulated knowledge of the evolutionary history of various invertebrates, there is a large bias among the taxa regarding genetic data. The order Polycladida is a typical example for which little genetic information at population level is available. Here, we focused on the polyclad flatworm Stylochoplana pusilla, distributed in the Japanese Pacific coastal area. Stylochoplana pusilla is known to have commensal relationships with certain intertidal snails, using snails (mainly Monodonta confusa) as a refugee house. During low tide, S. pusilla hides in the mantle cavity of snails to protect themselves from desiccation and predation. Here, we investigated the genetic structure of S. pusilla using a mitochondrial Cytochrome Oxidase I marker and the species diversity of snails used by it. We found that S. pusilla has high genetic diversity of its populations. While S. pusilla showed a significant genetic differentiation among populations, it was relatively low. In addition, we also showed that S. pusilla used several intertidal snail species which inhabit various coastal environments. The present study suggests S. pusilla has sufficient dispersal ability to connect among its local populations. Also, the range of available snails for S. pusilla may help the connectivity among local populations. We provide important knowledge about this invertebrate taxon with a unique ecology, which has been insufficiently studied.
AB - Although marine phylogeographers have accumulated knowledge of the evolutionary history of various invertebrates, there is a large bias among the taxa regarding genetic data. The order Polycladida is a typical example for which little genetic information at population level is available. Here, we focused on the polyclad flatworm Stylochoplana pusilla, distributed in the Japanese Pacific coastal area. Stylochoplana pusilla is known to have commensal relationships with certain intertidal snails, using snails (mainly Monodonta confusa) as a refugee house. During low tide, S. pusilla hides in the mantle cavity of snails to protect themselves from desiccation and predation. Here, we investigated the genetic structure of S. pusilla using a mitochondrial Cytochrome Oxidase I marker and the species diversity of snails used by it. We found that S. pusilla has high genetic diversity of its populations. While S. pusilla showed a significant genetic differentiation among populations, it was relatively low. In addition, we also showed that S. pusilla used several intertidal snail species which inhabit various coastal environments. The present study suggests S. pusilla has sufficient dispersal ability to connect among its local populations. Also, the range of available snails for S. pusilla may help the connectivity among local populations. We provide important knowledge about this invertebrate taxon with a unique ecology, which has been insufficiently studied.
KW - Cytochrome Oxidase I
KW - Genetic structure
KW - Marine flatworm
KW - Polycladida
KW - Rhabditophora
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U2 - 10.1017/S0025315420000570
DO - 10.1017/S0025315420000570
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85093847563
VL - 100
SP - 713
EP - 717
JO - Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom
JF - Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom
SN - 0025-3154
IS - 5
ER -