Journal Article
Understanding subterranean variability: the first genus of Bathynellidae (Bathynellacea, Crustacea) from Western Australia described through a morphological and multigene approach
Perina, G., Camacho, A.I., Huey, J., Horwitz, P., and Koenders, A.
Record Number:
4495
Year:
2018
Journal:
Invertebrate Systematics
Pages:
423-447
Volume:
32
Abstract:
The number of subterranean taxa discovered in the north of Western Australia has
substantially increased due to the requirements for environmental surveys related
to mining development.
Challenges in estimating subterranean biodiversity are related to lack knowledge
of subterranean taxa in a largely unobservable environmental setting, and
convergent morphological characters. An integrated approach is warranted to
understand such complexity.
Bathynellidae occur in most of Australian aquifers, but only one species has been
described so far, and the group lacks a reliable taxonomic framework, which
makes biodiversity and distribution assessment difficult. A new genus and one
new species from the Pilbara, Pilbaranella ethelensis gen. et sp. nov., is described
from an integrated approach using both morphological and molecular data. Three
additional species of Pilbaranella are defined through mitochondrial and nuclear
genes, using Automatic Barcode Gap Discovery (ABGD) and Poisson Tree
Processes (PTP) species delimitation methods. A comparison of morphology and
18S ribosomal RNA sequences between Pilbaranella gen. nov. and known
lineages provides the evidentiary basis for the decision to establish a new genus.
This study provides a morphological and molecular framework to work with
Bathynellidae, especially in Australia where a highly diverse fauna remains still
undescribed.
Key words: ABGD - mitochondrial DNA - morphology - new species - nuclear
DNA - Pilbara - Pilbaranella gen. nov. - PTP - species delimitation - stygofauna
Times Cited:
3