Confirmation through genetic analysis of the existence of many local phyloclades of the genus Simocephalus (Crustacea, Cladocera) in China

PLoS One. 2014 Nov 13;9(11):e112808. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0112808. eCollection 2014.

Abstract

Previously, a series of Simocephalus taxa (Cladocera: Daphniidae) from China were described. Most were proposed to be junior synonyms in the last revision of the genus. Using original material from China and data from GenBank, we investigate the biodiversity and phylogeny of Simocephalus using sequences of the cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) and the nuclear 18S genes. In both cases, neighbor-joining, maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference analyses led to highly congruent tree topologies. The grouping of the deeper clades agrees with the inter-generic classification of Orlova-Bienkowskaja (2001). Only the populations of S. serrulatus from Eurasia and North America seem to be closely related, and there are no other shared species between the two continents. Our study unambiguously confirms the existence of many lineages from the subgenera of Simocephalus (Echinocaudus) and Simocephalus s.str. in China, but their morphology needs to be reexamined by taking a wider range of characters (e.g., of female thoracic limbs and adult males) into consideration.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Arthropod Proteins / genetics*
  • China
  • Cladocera / classification*
  • Cladocera / genetics*
  • Databases, Nucleic Acid
  • Electron Transport Complex IV / genetics*
  • Female
  • Male
  • Phylogeny*

Substances

  • Arthropod Proteins
  • Electron Transport Complex IV

Grants and funding

The reagents, materials and analysis tools of this study was partly supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 31071880 and 31272262), Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation and Zhejiang Key Scientific & Technological Innovation Team Project (Grant Nos. 2010R50039-20), and Hangzhou Key Laboratory for Animal Adaptation and Evolution (Grant No. 20100333T05) and part of analysis tools of this study was partly supported by Russian foundation for Basic research (grants 12-04-00207-a and 14-04-01149-a). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.