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Daniels SR, Peer N, Myburgh AM, Barnes A, Klaus S. Let's get high: Cladogenesis in freshwater crabs (Decapoda: Potamonautidae: Potamonautes) supports the mountain gradient speciation hypothesis in the Cape Fold and Drakensberg Mountains, South Africa. Ecol Evol 2024; 14:e10960. [PMID: 38450318 PMCID: PMC10915499 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.10960] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/08/2023] [Accepted: 12/13/2023] [Indexed: 03/08/2024] Open
Abstract
During the present study, the evolutionary relationship within a clade of mountain clade of freshwater crabs (Potamonautes) was examined using mtDNA sequence data for species from the Cape Fold Mountain (CFM) and Great Escarpment (Drakensberg Mountain range). We undertook phylogenetic analyses, divergence time estimation, and an ancestral area reconstruction to explore the period of cladogenesis and understand the biogeographic history in this high-altitude clade. Furthermore, we applied four species delimitation methods using ASAP, bPTP, bGMYC, and STACEY on the latter clade. Bayesian phylogenetic analyses retrieved a monophyletic freshwater crab clade comprised of two major sister clades, one comprised of the Cape Fold (clade A) and two comprised of Drakensberg Mountains (clade B) species. Divergence time estimation indicated that the two clades underwent Mio/Pliocene cladogenesis. Within the CFM clade (A), P. amathole (Amathola Mountains) was sister to P. parvispina (Cederberg and Kouebokkeveld Mountains) and the latter species were sister to P. parvicorpus (Cape Peninsula, Jonkershoek, and Helderberg Mountains) sister to P. tuerkayi (Overberg Mountains) and P. brincki (Hottentots Holland Mountains). Within the Drakensberg Mountain clade (B), we observed in situ diversification. Specimens from the southcentral Drakensberg Mountains (Dargle Forest, Injasuti, Karkloof, and Impendle) represent a new undescribed lineage Potamonautes sp. nov. 1. The second clade from the northern Drakensberg, representing P. clarus, was sister to a central Drakensberg Mountain clade that comprised P. depressus that was in turn sister to P. baziya from the Eastern Cape Province. The application of species delimitation methods generally overestimated the number of species. The biogeographic analyses indicated that the Eastern Cape Province is the most likely ancestral range area. Ecological niche modelling of representative species in clades A (Cape Fold Mountains) and B (Drakensberg Mountains) demonstrated that temperature and rainfall were the major abiotic drivers that differentiated the two clades. Our data favours the mountain gradient speciation hypothesis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Savel R. Daniels
- Department of Botany and ZoologyUniversity of StellenboschStellenboschSouth Africa
| | - Nasreen Peer
- Department of Botany and ZoologyUniversity of StellenboschStellenboschSouth Africa
| | | | - Aaron Barnes
- Department of Botany and ZoologyUniversity of StellenboschStellenboschSouth Africa
| | - Sebastian Klaus
- Department of Ecology and EvolutionJ. W. Goethe‐University, BiologicumFrankfurt am MainGermany
- ERM GmbHNeu‐IsenburgGermany
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Mbanyana N, Blaimer BB, Le Roux JJ, van Noort S, Brady SG, Wossler TC. Out of the desert: Paleoclimatic changes drove the diversification of arid-adapted Ocymyrmex ants in southern Africa. Mol Phylogenet Evol 2024; 191:107977. [PMID: 38008369 DOI: 10.1016/j.ympev.2023.107977] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/14/2023] [Revised: 11/06/2023] [Accepted: 11/23/2023] [Indexed: 11/28/2023]
Abstract
A highly endemic ant fauna is found in the arid regions of southern Africa, including species in the genus Ocymyrmex. This genus of ants has higher species richness in the western arid regions of southern Africa compared to tropical and subtropical parts of the continent. The processes that have produced these patterns of diversity and distribution of arid adapted ants in southern Africa have never been investigated. The diversification of many other taxa in the region has been associated with past climate fluctuations that occurred during the Miocene epoch. In this study, the nature and timing of historical processes that may have led to the diversification within Ocymyrmex were assessed. We hypothesized that past climate oscillations, characterized by long periods of aridification, have driven the current distribution of Ocymyrmex species that resulted in the highest species richness of the genus in the Deserts & xeric shrublands biome in southern Africa. Ninety-four Ocymyrmex worker specimens from Botswana, Kenya, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania and Zimbabwe, representing 21 currently described species and six morphospecies, were included in a phylogenomic analysis. Phylogenies for the genus, based on next generation sequencing data from ultraconserved elements, were inferred using Maximum Likelihood, and a dating analysis was performed using secondary age estimates as calibration points. A distribution database of Ocymyrmex records was used to assign species ranges, which were then coded according to major biomes in southern Africa and used as input for biogeographical analysis. We explored the phylogenomic relationships of Ocymyrmex and analysed these within a biogeographical and paleoclimatic framework to disentangle the potential processes responsible for diversification in this group. Dating analyses estimated that the crown age of Ocymyrmex dates to the Oligocene, around 32 Ma. Diversification within this group occurred between the mid-Miocene (∼12.5 Ma) and Pleistocene (∼2 Ma). Our biogeographic analyses suggest that Ocymyrmex species originated in the south-western region of southern Africa, which is now part of the Deserts & xeric shrublands biome and diversified into eastern subtropical areas during the Pliocene. Paleoclimatic changes resulting in increased aridity during the Miocene likely drove the diversification of the genus Ocymyrmex. It is most likely that the diversification of grasslands, because of historical climate change, facilitated the diversification of these ants to the eastern parts of southern Africa when open grasslands replaced forests during the early Miocene.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nokuthula Mbanyana
- Research and Exhibitions Department, South African Museum, Iziko Museums of South Africa, P.O. Box 61, Cape Town, 8000, South Africa; Department of Botany and Zoology, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, 7602, South Africa.
| | - Bonnie B Blaimer
- Museum für Naturkunde, Leibniz-Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity Science, Center for Integrative Biodiversity Discovery, Invalidenstr. 43, Berlin, 10115, Germany
| | - Johannes J Le Roux
- School of Natural Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, 2113, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Simon van Noort
- Research and Exhibitions Department, South African Museum, Iziko Museums of South Africa, P.O. Box 61, Cape Town, 8000, South Africa; Department of Biological Sciences, University of Cape Town, Private Bag, Rondebosch, 7701, South Africa
| | - Seán G Brady
- Department of Entomology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20560, USA
| | - Theresa C Wossler
- Department of Botany and Zoology, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, 7602, South Africa
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Bolek MG, Detwiler JT, Stigge HA. Selected Wildlife Trematodes. ADVANCES IN EXPERIMENTAL MEDICINE AND BIOLOGY 2024; 1454:391-440. [PMID: 39008272 DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-60121-7_11] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/16/2024]
Abstract
The trematodes are a species-rich group of parasites, with some estimates suggesting that there are more than 24,000 species. However, the complexities associated with their taxonomic status and nomenclature can hinder explorations of the biology of wildlife trematodes, including fundamental aspects such as host use, life cycle variation, pathology, and disease. In this chapter, we review work on selected trematodes of amphibians, birds, mammals, and their snail intermediate hosts, with the goal of providing a tool kit on how to study trematodes of wildlife. We provide a brief introduction to each group of wildlife trematodes, followed by some examples of the challenges each group of trematodes has relative to the goal of their identification and understanding of the biology and interactions these organisms have with their wildlife hosts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthew G Bolek
- Department of Integrative Biology, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK, USA.
| | - Jillian T Detwiler
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, Canada
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Daniels SR, Busschau T, Gullacksen G, Marais H, Gouws G, Barnes A. Cryptic and widespread: a recipe for taxonomic misidentification in a freshwater crab species (Decapoda: Potamonautidae: Potamonautes sidneyi) as evident from species delimitation methods. Zool J Linn Soc 2022. [DOI: 10.1093/zoolinnean/zlac068] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/17/2023]
Abstract
AbstractWe examined the systematics of a ubiquitously distributed southern African freshwater crab, Potamonautes sidneyi s.l. species complex. Specimens were subjected to DNA sequence analyses of two mitochondrial loci (16S rRNA + COI). We applied three species delimitations methods (ASAP, bGMYC and bPTP) to test their utility in delineating species boundaries in Potamonautes and three additional Afrotropical genera (Liberonautes, Nesonautes and Seychellum). The combined mtDNA dataset retrieved five clades. Clade 1 comprised of P. barbarai, clade 2 comprised of specimens from the interior of the Great Karoo Basin, sister to P. sidneyi s.s. in clade 3. Clade 4 was confined to Eswatini and the Mpumalanga Province of South Africa, and sister to clade 5 that comprised P. danielsi. The three species delimitation methods either over- or underestimated the number of species. Phylogenetically, specimens from the Great Karoo Basin (clade 2) were equidistant to P. sidneyi s.s. and P. perlatus, while the Eswatini and Mpumalanga specimens (clade 4) were sister to P. danielsi. Clades 2 and 4 are herein described as P. karooensis sp. nov. and P. valles sp. nov., respectively.
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Affiliation(s)
- Savel R Daniels
- Department of Botany and Zoology, University of Stellenbosch , Private Bag X1, Matieland, 7602 , South Africa
| | - Theo Busschau
- Department of Botany and Zoology, University of Stellenbosch , Private Bag X1, Matieland, 7602 , South Africa
| | | | - Hannes Marais
- Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Agency, Aquatic Unit , Lydenburg, 1120 , South Africa
| | - Gavin Gouws
- National Research Foundation - South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity , Private Bag 1015, Makhanda, 6140 , South Africa
| | - Aaron Barnes
- Department of Botany and Zoology, University of Stellenbosch , Private Bag X1, Matieland, 7602 , South Africa
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Somoza-Valdeolmillos E, Gómez-Moliner BJ, Caro A, Chueca LJ, Martínez-Ortí A, Puente AI, Madeira MJ. Molecular phylogeny of the genus Chondrina (Gastropoda, Panpulmonata, Chondrinidae) in the Iberian Peninsula. Mol Phylogenet Evol 2022; 172:107480. [PMID: 35452839 DOI: 10.1016/j.ympev.2022.107480] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/25/2021] [Revised: 03/23/2022] [Accepted: 04/05/2022] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Chondrina Reichenbach, 1828 is a highly diverse genus of terrestrial molluscs currently including 44 species with about 28 subspecific taxa. It is distributed through North Africa, central and southern Europe, from Portugal in the West to the Caucasus and Asia Minor in the East. Approximately 70% of the species are endemic to the Iberian Peninsula constituting its main center of speciation with 34 species. This genus includes many microendemic taxa, some of them not yet described, confined to limestone habitats (being strictly rock-dwelling species). They are distributed on rocky outcrops up to 2000 m.a.s.l. It is a genus of conical-fusiform snails that differ mainly in shell characters and in the number and position of teeth in their aperture. So far, molecular studies on Chondrina have been based exclusively on the mitochondrial Cytochrome Oxidase subunit I region (COI). These studies gave a first view of the phylogeny of the genus but many inner nodes were not statistically supported. The main objective of the study is to obtain a better understanding of the phylogeny and systematics of the genus Chondrina on the Iberian Peninsula, using multilocus molecular analysis. Partial sequences of the COI and 16S rRNA genes, as well as of the nuclear Internal Transcribed Spacer 1 (ITS1-5.8S) and Internal Transcribed Spacer 2 (5.8S-ITS2-28S) were obtained from individuals of all the extant Chondrina species known from the Iberian Peninsula. In addition to this, the newly obtained COI sequences were combined with those previously published in the GenBank. Phylogenetic relationships were inferred using maximum likelihood and Bayesian methods. The reconstructed phylogenies showed high values of support for more recent branches and basal nodes. Moreover, molecular species delimitation allowed to better definethe studied species and check the presence of new taxa.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eder Somoza-Valdeolmillos
- University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Faculty of Pharmacy, Department of Zoology and Animal Cell Biology: Paseo de la Universidad, 7. 01006 Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain; Biodiversity Research Group CIEA Lucio Lascaray, Avda. Miguel de Unamuno 3, 01006 Vitoria-Gasteiz, Álava, Spain.
| | - Benjamín J Gómez-Moliner
- University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Faculty of Pharmacy, Department of Zoology and Animal Cell Biology: Paseo de la Universidad, 7. 01006 Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain; Biodiversity Research Group CIEA Lucio Lascaray, Avda. Miguel de Unamuno 3, 01006 Vitoria-Gasteiz, Álava, Spain
| | - Amaia Caro
- University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Faculty of Pharmacy, Department of Zoology and Animal Cell Biology: Paseo de la Universidad, 7. 01006 Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain; Biodiversity Research Group CIEA Lucio Lascaray, Avda. Miguel de Unamuno 3, 01006 Vitoria-Gasteiz, Álava, Spain
| | - Luis J Chueca
- University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Faculty of Pharmacy, Department of Zoology and Animal Cell Biology: Paseo de la Universidad, 7. 01006 Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain; LOEWE-Centre for Translational Biodiversity Genomics (LOEWE-TBG), Senckenberg Nature Research Society, Senckenberganlage 25, 60325 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - Alberto Martínez-Ortí
- Museu Valencià d'Història Natural, Apto. 8460, E-46018, Valencia and Universitat de València, Faculty of Pharmacy, Parasitology Departament, Burjassot, Valencia, (Spain)
| | - Ana I Puente
- University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Faculty of Science and Technology, Department of Zoology and Animal Cell Biology: Barrio Sarriena s/n, 48015 Leioa, Spain
| | - María J Madeira
- University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Faculty of Pharmacy, Department of Zoology and Animal Cell Biology: Paseo de la Universidad, 7. 01006 Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain; Biodiversity Research Group CIEA Lucio Lascaray, Avda. Miguel de Unamuno 3, 01006 Vitoria-Gasteiz, Álava, Spain
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