Abstract
The species boundaries between members of the southern African ‘Patella miniata’ species complex (Patella miniata miniata, P. miniata sanguinans and P. compressa) are poorly defined on morphological grounds. Doubt also exists whether all populations of P. miniata miniata constitute a single taxon, with ‘P. cf. miniata’ having uncertain affinities. The status of P. adansonii (known only from shells) is also obscure. Protein gel electrophoresis was employed to resolve these taxonomic uncertainties. In addition, a population of P. safiana from southern Angola was included in the study as a reference population. Electrophoretic analysis of 16 enzyme loci revealed four distinctive groupings. All populations of P. miniata miniata and P. cf. miniata proved closely related and separated from P. compressa populations at I=0.85; the P. miniata sanguinans populations clustered out at I=0.79; and P. safiana separated at I=0.69. Phylogenetic analyses, using P. safiana as an outgroup, indicated that P. miniata miniata, P. miniata sanguinans and P. compressa form a closely related monophyletic group in which P. miniata miniata and P. compressa are more closely related to each other than either one of them is to P. miniata sanguinans. Morphological analyses (shells, radula, sperm microstructure) revealed differences that mirrored the differences detected by the allozymes. Thus, it was concluded that P. miniata sanguinans and P. miniata miniata warrant full specific status and we therefore raise the former to P. sanguinans. Patella miniata miniata and P. cf. miniata are geographic variants of the same species, P. miniata, and P. adansonii is sunk within this species. Furthermore, the suggestion that P. miniata and P. compressa may be ecomorphs of the same species are not supported and both warrant specific status. Thus, the ‘Patella miniata’ species complex in southern Africa is a closely related monophyletic group of three species, with P. miniata and P. compressa being more closely related to each other than either one is to P. sanguinans.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Bartsch, P., 1915. The report on the Turton collection of South African marine molluscs. Bull. U.S. nat. Mus. 91: 1–305.
Branch, G. M., 1981. The biology of limpets: physical factors, energy flow and ecological considerations. Oceanogr. mar. Biol. annu. Rev. 19: 235–380.
Branch, G. M., J. M. Harris, C. Parkins, R. H. Bustamante, S. Eekhout, 1992. Algal `gardening’ by grazers: a comparison of the ecological effects of territorial fish and limpets. In John, D. M., S. J. Hawkins, J. H. Price (eds), Plant-Animal Interactions in the Marine Benthos. Clarendon Press, Oxford: 405–423.
Branch, G. M., C. L. Griffiths, M. L. Branch, L. E. Beckley, 1994. Two oceans - a guide to the marine life of southern Africa. David Philip, Cape Town.
Buth, D. G., 1984. The application of electrophoretic data in systematic studies. Ann. Rev. Ecol. Syst. 15: 501–522.
Christiaens, J., 1973. Révision du genre Patella (Mollusca, Gastropoda). Bull. Mus. natl. Hist. nat. 182: 1306–1392.
Côrte-Real H. B. S. M., S. J. Hawkins, J. P. Thorpe, 1996a. Population differentiation and taxonomic status of the exploited limpet Patella candei in the Macaronesian islands (Azores, Madeira, Canaries). Mar. Biol. 125: 141–152.
Côrte-Real H. B. S. M., S. J. Hawkins, J. R. Thorpe, 1996b. An interpretation of the taxonomic relationship between the limpets Patella rustica and P. piperata. J. mar. biol. Ass., U.K. 76: 717–732.
Cretella, M., G. Scillitani, F. Toscano, P. Turella, D. Picariello, A. Cataudo, 1994. Relationships between Patella ferruginea Gmelin, 1971 and other Tyrrhenian species of Patella (Gastropoda: Patellidae). J. moll. Stud. 60: 9–17.
Dunker, G., 1853. Index molluscorum, quae in itinere ad guineam inferiorem collegit. Casellis Cattorum.
Farris, J. S., 1988. Hennig86, Version 1.5; manual, software and MSDOS program.
Harris, H., D. A. Hopkinson, 1976. Handbook of Enzyme Electrophoresis in Human Genetics. Elsevier, Amsterdam.
Hedgecock, D., N. B. Okazaki, 1984. Genetic diversity within and between populations of American oysters (Crassostrea). Malacologia 25: 535–549.
Heller, J., Y. Dempster, 1991. Detection of two coexisting species of Oxystele (Gastropoda: Trochidae) by morphological and electrophoretic analyses. Proc. zool. Soc., Lond. 223: 395–418.
Hodgson, A. N., S. Ridgway, G. M. Branch, S. J. Hawkins, 1996. Spermatozoan morphology of 19 species of prosobranch limpets (Patellogastropoda) with a discussion of patellid relationships. Phil. Trans. r. Soc. Lond. 351: 339–347.
Kilburn, R., E. Rippey, 1982. Sea shells of Southern Africa. Macmillan, Johannesburg: 1–327.
Koch, H. J., 1949. A review of the South African representatives of the genus Patella Linnaeus. Ann. Natal Mus. 11: 487–517.
Levene, H., 1949. On a matching problem arising in genetics. Ann. math. Stat. 20: 91–94.
Markert, C. L., I. Faulhaber, 1965. Lactate dehydrogenase in isozyme patterns of fish. J. exp. Zool. 159: 319–332.
Mickevich, M. F., C. Mitter, 1981. Treating polymorphic characters in systematics: a phylogenetic treatment of electrophoretic data. In Funk, V. A., D. R. Brooks (eds), Advances in Cladistics, Volume 1. Proceedings of the First Meeting of the Willi Hennig Society. New York Botanical Garden, New York: 45–58.
Mickevich, M. F., C. Mitter, 1983. Evolutionary patterns in allozyme data: a systematic approach. In Platnick, N. I., V. A. Funk (eds), Advances in Cladistics, Volume 2. Proceedings of the Second Meeting of the Willi Hennig Society. Columbia University Press, New York: 169–176.
Nei, M., 1978. Estimation of average heterozygosity and genetic distance from a small number of individuals. Genetics 89: 583–590.
Pilsbry, H. A., 1891. Acmaeidae, Lepetidae, Patellidae, Titiscanniidae. In Manual of Conchology: Structural and Systematic. Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia.
Powell, A. W. P., 1973. The patellid limpets of the world (Patellidae). Indo-pacif. Mollusca 3: 75–206.
Ridgeway, G. J., S. W. Sherburne, R. D. Lewis, 1970. Polymorphism in the esterases of Atlantic herring. Trans. am. Fish. Soc. 99: 147–151.
Ridgway, S. A., D. G. Reid, J. D. Taylor, G. M. Branch, A. N. Hodgson, 1998. A cladistic phylogeny of the family Patellidae (Mollusca: Gastropoda). Phil. Trans. r. Soc., Lond., Ser. B 353: 1–28.
Ridgway, T. M., B. A. Stewart, G. M. Branch, A. N. Hodgson, 1998. Morphological and genetic differentiation of Patella granularis (Gastropoda: Patellidae) along the coast of southern Africa. Proc. zool. Soc. Lond. 245: 317–333.
Shaw, C. R., R. Prasad, 1970. Starch gel electrophoresis of enzymes–a compilation of recipes. Biochem. Genet. 4: 297–320.
Skibinski, D. O. F., T. F. Cross, M. Ahmed, 1980. Electrophoretic investigation of systematic relationships in the marine mussels Modiolus modiolus L., Mytilus edulis L. and Mytilus galloprovincialis Lmk. (Mytilidae; Mollusca). Biol. J. linn. Soc., Lond. 13: 65–74.
Sokal, R. R., P. H. A. Sneath, 1973. Numerical taxonomy: the principles and practice of numerical classification. W.H. Freeman, San Francisco.
Swofford, D. L., G. J. Olsen, 1990. Phylogeny reconstruction. In Hillis, D. M., C. Moritz (eds), Molecular Systematics. Sinauer Associates, Sunderland, Massachusetts: 411–501.
Swofford, D. L., R. B. Selander, 1981. BIOSYS-1; a FORTRAN program for the comprehensive analysis of electrophoretic data in population genetics and systematics. J. Hered. 72: 281–283.
Thorpe, J. P., 1982. The molecular clock hypothesis: biochemical evolution, genetic differentiation and systematics. Ann. Rev. Ecol. Syst. 13: 139–168.
Tomlin, J. R., T. A. Stephenson, 1942. South African Patellidae. Proc. malac. Soc. 25: 4–9.
Ward, R. D., J. A. Beardmore, 1977. Protein variation in the plaice Pleuronectes platessa. Genet. Res. 30: 45–62.
Whitt, G. S., 1970. Developmental genetics of the lactate dehydrogenate isozymes of fish. J. exp. Zool. 175: 1–35.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2000 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Ridgway, T.M., Branch, G.M., Stewart, B.A., Hodgson, A.N. (2000). Taxonomic status of the ‘Patella miniata’ species complex (Mollusca: Gastropoda) in southern Africa. In: Solé-Cava, A.M., Russo, C.A.M., Thorpe, J.P. (eds) Marine Genetics. Developments in Hydrobiology, vol 144. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-2184-4_12
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-2184-4_12
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-90-481-5387-9
Online ISBN: 978-94-017-2184-4
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive