Evolution of a dextral lineage by left-right reversal inCristataria(Gastropoda, Pulmonata, Clausiliidae)

Abstract

It has long been debated whether mirror image‐like similarity in shell morphology between enantiomorphic pairs of dextral and sinistral taxa represents their sister relationship, or each of them is closer related to other congeners with the same coiling direction. The obligate rock‐dwelling genus Cristataria Vest, 1867 of the eastern Mediterranean region belongs to the Alopiinae subfamily of door snails (Clausiliidae). Cristataria and a few other genera of this subfamily include enantiomorphic pairs that are conchologically very similar to each other. Dextral C. colbeauiana (Pfeiffer, 1861) and its sinistral counterpart of such an enantiomorphic pair occur nearby one another in southern Turkey. However, the latter has been classified either as the sinistral subspecies C. colbeauiana inversa Szekeres, 1998 or as a form of sinistral C. leprevieri (Pallary, 1922). To examine the phylogenetic relationship of this enantiomorphic pair, we carried out molecular phylogenetic analysis of all the Turkish and two other Cristataria taxa based on both mitochondrial and nuclear DNA markers. Our results show that dextral C. colbeauiana and its sinistral counterpart are closest related to one another. This supports the classification of this enantiomorphic pair as dextral C. colbeauiana colbeauiana and sinistral C. colbeauiana inversa. Our results also reveal that these taxa and C. intersita Németh & Szekeres, 1995, sharing a characteristic collar behind the aperture of the shell, represent a monophyletic lineage. By contrast, the Cristataria species of non‐collared shells belong to another clade.

Patterns of variation of mutation rates of mitochondrial and nuclear genes of gastropods

“…1, Table 2). The species contained in the ten datasets that have relatively large values of µ m /µ n exclusively represent members of single genera that have radiated recently [15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23]. For example, the Conus dataset that represents an outlier ( µ m /µ n = 56.7) includes 44 members of the Cape Verde species flock, a group of species that may have radiated explosively during the past few million years [15,24,25].…”

New insights into and limitations of the molecular phylogeny in the taxon‐rich land snail genusMontenegrina(Mollusca: Gastropoda: Clausiliidae)

“…Although karst areas cover only a small part of the landmass, they provide specific habitats and are receiving increasing consideration in national conservation programmes. Rock‐dwelling gastropods significantly contribute to local species diversity in karst areas, for example the species‐rich genera Albinaria Vest, 1867 (Dimopoulou, Antoniou, Mylonas, Vardinoyiannis, & Poulakakis, 2017), Alopia Adams & Adams, 1855 (Fehér, Németh, Nicoara, & Szekeres, 2013), Cristataria Vest, 1867 (Páll‐Gergely, Szekeres, Fehér, Asami, & Harl, 2019) and Montenegrina Boettger, 1877 (Fehér & Szekeres, 2016b). Obligate rock‐dwelling gastropods exhibit limited active and passive dispersal ability, with long‐distance dispersal mainly involving passive mechanisms (Uit de Weerd, Schneider, & Gittenberger, 2005), although detailed studies on the degree of passive and active dispersal and on particular strategies are scarce.…”

An integrative approach to the taxonomy and systematics within the genusMontenegrinaBoettger, 1877 (Mollusca, Gastropoda, Clausiliidae)

“…As clausiliid taxonomy is primarily based on shell characters, this should be tested by other approaches to arrive at a clearer picture. Molecular phylogeny reconstructions were done for some genera or groups of genera, and these studies produced some unexpected results and/or pointed at weak points of the shell‐morphology‐based system (Fehér, Németh, Nicoară, & Szekeres, 2013; Koch, Neiber, Walther, & Hausdorf, 2017; Kornilios, Stamataki, & Giokas, 2015; Páll‐Gergely, Fehér, Asami, & Harl, 2019; Uit de Weerd & Gittenberger, 2004, 2005). Hartmut Nordsieck devoted almost his entire scientific activity to Clausiliidae and unsurprisingly produced most of the Alopiinae taxonomic literature (among others: Nordsieck, 1963a, 1963b, 1969a, 1969b, 1970, 1972, 1974, 1997, 2002, 2007, 2008, 2011, 2012).…”