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Are Acila divaricata and Acila mirabilis One species or two distinct species? Evidence from COI mitochondrial DNA

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Abstract

Acila divaricata (Hinds, 1843) and A. mirabilis (Adams and Reeve, 1850) are common benthic bivalves in China. A number of researchers have proposed that the latter species is a junior synonym of the former species. Because of morphological similarities, it is difficult to distinguish these two species based on visual examination only. For better understanding of their taxonomy, the mitochondrial COI gene fragments of five individuals of A. divaricata from the East China Sea and six individuals of A. mirabilis from the Yellow Sea were sequenced in this study. The phylogenetic relationships of the obtained COI sequences, together with nineteen sequences of three species of the genus Nucula, were analyzed. The pairwise intra- and inter-specific distances for the COI sequences ranged from 0.002 to 0.017 and from 0.128 to 0.134, respectively, and no overlap was found. Phylogenetically, A. divaricata and A. mirabilis form distinct clades and cluster into a sister to all other Nucula species. The results indicated that A. divaricata and A. mirabilis are two distinct species. The differences in the morphology and distribution between the two species were briefly discussed.

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  1. Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao, 266071, P. R. China

    Junlong Zhang, Huafeng Shi, Fengshan Xu & Zhongli Sha

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Zhang, J., Shi, H., Xu, F. et al. Are Acila divaricata and Acila mirabilis One species or two distinct species? Evidence from COI mitochondrial DNA. J. Ocean Univ. China 13, 283–289 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11802-014-2139-y

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