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Incongruence between molecular and morphological characters in the southern king crabs Lithodes santolla and Lithodes confundens (Decapoda: Anomura)

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Abstract

The use of genetic tools has a relevant role in fishery resource management and conservation, for example, when used in species delimitation. Morphological variation can occur as an adaptative or plastic response to environmental variation, and therefore, be mistakenly used as a criterion to delimit species. Particularly, Lithodes santolla and Lihodes confundens, two commercially important lithodid species from sub-Antarctic South America, are mainly differentiated by the number and size of spines on the carapace and pereiopods. However, variability in the size of spines of L. santolla has been reported. We evaluated whether these two morphospecies constitute reciprocally monophyletic clades at the molecular level using mitochondrial markers, and performed a detailed morphological analysis of the carapace to search for correspondence between genetic and morphological differences. The Bayesian phylogenetic reconstruction showed that L. santolla and L. confundens belong to two sister clades. However, individuals identified as L. santolla and L. confundens did not resolve as reciprocally monophyletic groups. Instead, one clade was formed by individuals belonging to both morphospecies and was widely distributed, while the other one was exclusively formed by L. santolla, and its members were only found near Puerto Montt and in the Beagle Channel. No morphological characters were found on the carapace that could differentiate individuals belonging to each genetic clade. Either if the two genetic clades constitute species or remnants of two species that are merging through introgression, they represent two evolutionary significant lineages, and measures should be taken to preserve both. Our study suggests the need to revise the use of the number of spines as a relevant taxonomic character in the taxonomy of Lithodes, and to implement molecular genetic methods to control fisheries.

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Acknowledgments

We greatly appreciate the help of crews and captains of the RV Puerto Deseado. María Gowland-Sainz, Olga Florentín and Marcelo Pérez helped us with sampling and Anabela Petraroia helped us with lab work. The comments of three anonymous reviewers greatly improved this manuscript. This study was funded by a grant of the Argentine Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científica y Tecnológica, Fondo para la Investigación Científica y Tecnológica, Préstamo BID—PICT 2010-2529, CONICET, Universidad Maimónides and Fundación de Historia Natural Félix de Azara.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET) and Centro de Estudios Biomédicos, Biotecnológicos, Ambientales y Diagnóstico (CEBBAD), Universidad Maimónides, Hidalgo 775, 6°piso, (C1405BCK), Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Patricia Pérez-Barros

  2. Instituto de Ecología, Genética y Evolución de Buenos Aires (IEGEBA), CONICET-UBA and Departamento de Ecología, Genética y Evolución, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA), Ciudad Universitaria, Pabellón II, 4°piso, (C1428EHA), Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Viviana A. Confalonieri

  3. Instituto de Acuicultura, Universidad Austral de Chile, Puerto Montt, Chile

    Kurt Paschke

  4. Centro Austral de Investigaciones Científicas (CADIC), CONICET, Bernardo Houssay 200, (V9410CAB), Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego, Argentina

    Gustavo A. Lovrich

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  1. Patricia Pérez-Barros
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  4. Gustavo A. Lovrich
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Correspondence to Patricia Pérez-Barros.

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Pérez-Barros, P., Confalonieri, V.A., Paschke, K. et al. Incongruence between molecular and morphological characters in the southern king crabs Lithodes santolla and Lithodes confundens (Decapoda: Anomura). Polar Biol 38, 2097–2107 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-015-1770-4

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