The taxonomic status of Dugesia
biblica from Israel and Turkey (Platyhelminthes, Tricladida, Dugesiidae)

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Abstract

The taxonomic status of Dugesia biblica ( Platyhelminthes , Tricladida , Dugesiidae ) from Israel and Turkey is problematic due to its morphological similarity with Dugesia sicula since these nominal species present overlapping characters. In this study we analyzed histological preparations of specimens of these two nominal species and also compared mitochondrial COI gene sequences from Israeli populations to the already known haplotype composition of Dugesia sicula . We concluded that these animals belong to the same species and therefore we consider Dugesia biblica to be a junior synonym of Dugesia sicula . This implies that the distribution range of Dugesia sicula is even wider than previously thought, and that the species is present all around the Mediterranean Basin and on many of its islands.

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Most cited references 10

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Land planarians (Platyhelminthes) as a model organism for fine-scale phylogeographic studies: understanding patterns of biodiversity in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest hotspot.

M Riutort, M Presas, F Carbayo … (2011)

The Brazilian Atlantic Forest is one of the richest biodiversity hotspots of the world. Paleoclimatic models have predicted two large stability regions in its northern and central parts, whereas southern regions might have suffered strong instability during Pleistocene glaciations. Molecular phylogeographic and endemism studies show, nevertheless, contradictory results: although some results validate these predictions, other data suggest that paleoclimatic models fail to predict stable rainforest areas in the south. Most studies, however, have surveyed species with relatively high dispersal rates whereas taxa with lower dispersion capabilities should be better predictors of habitat stability. Here, we have used two land planarian species as model organisms to analyse the patterns and levels of nucleotide diversity on a locality within the Southern Atlantic Forest. We find that both species harbour high levels of genetic variability without exhibiting the molecular footprint of recent colonization or population expansions, suggesting a long-term stability scenario. The results reflect, therefore, that paleoclimatic models may fail to detect refugia in the Southern Atlantic Forest, and that model organisms with low dispersal capability can improve the resolution of these models. © 2011 The Authors. Journal of Evolutionary Biology © 2011 European Society For Evolutionary Biology.

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Molecular barcoding and phylogeography of sexual and asexual freshwater planarians of the genus Dugesia in the Western Mediterranean (Platyhelminthes, Tricladida, Dugesiidae).

Eva Lázaro, Ronald Sluys, Maria Pala … (2009)

Planarians of the genus Dugesia have a worldwide distribution with high species diversity in the Mediterranean area. In this area, populations with a triploid karyotype that reproduce by fissiparity are exceptionally frequent, outnumbering the sexual populations. This situation poses interesting questions, such as the age of these asexual lineages, whether they all belong to the same species or whether the triploidization event is recurrent, and what factors (climatic, geographical, historical...) explain the prevalence of these asexual forms. However, asexual populations cannot be assigned to a species due to the lack of copulatory apparatus--the main structure used in species identification. In this study, we have developed a DNA barcoding method, based on COI and ITS-1 sequences, which allows the assignment of the fissiparous forms to sexual species. At the same time, phylogenetic analysis from species of the western Mediterranean have unveiled the presence of species with highly differentiated populations alongside species with a wide distribution and almost no genetic variation. The roles of habitat instability, dispersal capacity and human activities are briefly discussed.

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Fluvial basin history in the northeastern Mediterranean region underlies dispersal and speciation patterns in the genus Dugesia (Platyhelminthes, Tricladida, Dugesiidae).

Eduard Solà, Konstantinos Gritzalis, Marta Riutort … (2013)

In this study we analyzed the phylogenetic relationships of eastern Mediterranean freshwater planarians of the genus Dugesia, estimated divergence times for the various clades, and correlated their phylogeographic patterns with geological and paleoclimatic events, in order to discover which evolutionary processes have shaped the present-day distribution of these animals. Specimens were collected from freshwater courses and lakes in continental and insular Greece. Genetic divergences and phylogenetic relationships were inferred by using the mitochondrial gene subunit I of cytochrome oxidase (COI) and the nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer-1 (ITS-1) from 74 newly collected individuals from Greece. Divergence time estimates were obtained under a Bayesian framework, using the COI sequences. Two alternative geological dates for the isolation of Crete from the mainland were tested as calibration points. A clear phylogeographic pattern was present for Dugesia lineages in the Eastern Mediterranean. Morphological data, combined with information on genetic divergences, revealed that eight out of the nine known species were represented in the samples, while additional new, and still undescribed species were detected. Divergence time analyses suggested that Dugesia species became isolated in Crete after the first geological isolation of the island, and that their present distribution in the Eastern Mediterranean has been shaped mainly by vicariant events but also by dispersal. During the Messinian salinity crisis these freshwater planarians apparently were not able to cross the sea barrier between Crete and the mainland, while they probably did disperse between islands in the Aegean Sea. Their dependence on freshwater to survive suggests the presence of contiguous freshwater bodies in those regions. Our results also suggest a major extinction of freshwater planarians on the Peloponnese at the end of the Pliocene, while about 2Mya ago, when the current Mediterranean climate was established, these Peloponnese populations probably began to disperse again. At the end of the Pliocene or during the Pleistocene, mainland populations of Dugesia colonized the western coast, including the Ionian Islands, which were then part of the continent. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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Author and article information

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): Zookeys

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): Zookeys

Journal ID (publisher-id): ZooKeys

Title: ZooKeys

Publisher: Pensoft Publishers

ISSN (Print): 1313-2989

ISSN (Electronic): 1313-2970

Publication date Collection: 2015

Publication date (Electronic): 28 May 2015

Issue: 506

Pages: 1-12

Affiliations

[1 ]Departament de Genètica, Facultat de Biologia and Institut de Recerca de la Biodiversitat (IRBio), Universitat de Barcelona, Av. Diagonal 643, 08028, Barcelona, Spain

[2 ]Naturalis Biodiversity Center, P.O. Box 9517, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands

[3 ]Department of Evolutionary & Environmental Biology and Institute of Evolution, Faculty of Sciences, University of Haifa, 3498838, Haifa, Israel

Author notes

Corresponding author: Eduard Solà ( edu.sola@ 123456gmail.com )

Academic editor: F. Govedich

Article

DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.506.9663

PMC ID: 4467178

SO-VID: 5e5b8be7-7d72-4ee2-9037-32743931d6cd

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This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

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The taxonomic status of Dugesia biblica from Israel and Turkey (Platyhelminthes, Tricladida, Dugesiidae)

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Most cited references 10

Land planarians (Platyhelminthes) as a model organism for fine-scale phylogeographic studies: understanding patterns of biodiversity in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest hotspot.

Molecular barcoding and phylogeography of sexual and asexual freshwater planarians of the genus Dugesia in the Western Mediterranean (Platyhelminthes, Tricladida, Dugesiidae).

Fluvial basin history in the northeastern Mediterranean region underlies dispersal and speciation patterns in the genus Dugesia (Platyhelminthes, Tricladida, Dugesiidae).

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