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Intra-specific variability in the thirteen known populations of the fairy shrimp Chirocephalus ruffoi (Crustacea: Anostraca): resting egg morphometrics and mitochondrial DNA reveal decoupled patterns of deep divergence

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Abstract

Chirocephalus ruffoi is a fairy shrimp endemic to the Italian peninsula, where it is known only from thirteen high mountain locations. Twelve of these are in the Northern Apennines while the thirteenth is about 700 km away in the Calabrian Apennines (Southern Italy). We quantified degree of genetic divergence within the species by sequencing a fragment of the mitochondrial DNA encoding for Cytochrome Oxidase I. We then combined genetic data with the re-analysis of two different datasets on the morphometrics of the resting eggs (cysts) produced by the species as an adaptation to survive seasonal droughts. Genetic data revealed profound divergence; we identified four clusters of haplotypes within the species phylogeography, three in the Northern Apennines and one in the Calabrian Apennines with most of the genetic variation (≈70%) being apportioned among haplogroups. We found high variability in cyst morphometrics, especially in cyst size and height of the spines ornamenting the surface. Genetic and morphometric data are decoupled suggesting that cyst morphology is either under selection or a plastic trait. We, therefore, caution against using cyst morphology for taxonomic purposes in anostracans.

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Acknowledgments

Financial support to this research came from a grant (Progetti di Ricerca, “Sapienza” Universita’ di Roma, Anno 2011) to VK. An anonymous reviewer provided helpful comments on the paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Life Sciences, University of Trieste, Via Valerio 28, 34127, Trieste, Italy

    Paola Zarattini

  2. Department of Biology and Biotechnology “Charles Darwin”, University of Rome “La Sapienza”, V. le dell’Universita’ 32, 00185, Rome, Italy

    Graziella Mura & Valerio Ketmaier

  3. Institute of Biochemistry and Biology, University of Potsdam, Karl-Liebknecht-Str. 24-25, 14476, Potsdam, Germany

    Valerio Ketmaier

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  1. Paola Zarattini
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  2. Graziella Mura
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Correspondence to Valerio Ketmaier.

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Zarattini, P., Mura, G. & Ketmaier, V. Intra-specific variability in the thirteen known populations of the fairy shrimp Chirocephalus ruffoi (Crustacea: Anostraca): resting egg morphometrics and mitochondrial DNA reveal decoupled patterns of deep divergence. Hydrobiologia 713, 19–34 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-013-1487-8

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