Abstract
Thirty-nine snail samples morphologically conforming to the Bulinus truncatus/tropicus species complex were collected from 5 populations (Booma, Bugoigo, Piida, Toonya, and Walukuba) on Lake Albert, western Uganda. Analysis of patterns of sequence variations and evolutionary relationships within and between localities using a 612 bp fragment of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI) gene revealed 5 unique haplotypes defined by 21 polymorphic sites. The Bayesian and median- joining network phylogenetic reconstructions partitioned the haplotypes into 2 reciprocally monophyletic clades concordant with B. truncatus and B. tropicus separated by 18 mutational substitutions, corresponding to a 3.0% net sequence divergence. Sequence divergences between haplotypes ranged 0.2%-3.5%, and significant genetic differentiation was observed in 5 of the 6 population pairwise comparisons. The 2 sibling species were sympatric in only 1 locality, at Piida. Our results confirm the existence of 2 evolutionary lineages of the Bulinus truncatus/tropicus species in Lake Albert and underscore the utility of the mitochondrial COI gene in differentiating between sibling species of the B. truncatus/tropicus complex which are otherwise indistinguishable based on the shell morphology.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Journal | Zoological Studies |
| Volume | 49 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| Pages (from-to) | 515-522 |
| Number of pages | 8 |
| ISSN | 1021-5506 |
| Publication status | Published - Jul 2010 |
Keywords
- Former LIFE faculty