First indication of Japanese mitten crabs in Europe and cryptic genetic diversity of invasive Chinese mitten crabs

Abstract

The Chinese mitten crab (Eriocheir sinensis) is a prominent aquatic invader with substantial negative economic and environmental impacts. The aim of the present study was to re-evaluate the genetic diversity of mitten crabs throughout their native and invaded ranges based on publicly available sequence data, and assess if multiple introductions or rapid adaptation could be responsible for biologically divergent mitten crabs in Northern Europe. We assembled available genetic data of a fragment of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit one gene (COI) for all species of the genus Eriocheir. We applied phylogenetic and population genetic analyses to compare native and invasive populations, and to identify possible source populations. The phylogenetic reconstruction revealed that five COI sequences from Europe, morphologically identified as Chinese mitten crab, actually belong to the Japanese mitten crab (Eriocheir japonica), representing the first indication of its presence in European waters. All other COI sequences from Europe could unambiguously be assigned to the Chinese mitten crab. In some Northern German populations of Chinese mitten crabs, genetic diversity was surprisingly high, due to seven unique haplotypes encoding several amino acid substitutions. This diversity may reflect a cryptic introduction from an unsampled native location, or rapid adaptation in the invaded range. Based on the genetic diversity shared between native and introduced range, Feiyunjiang, a tributary of the Yangtze River, emerges as a plausible source population for the original introduction of Chinese mitten crabs to Europe. This study highlights the complex and dynamic invasion processes of mitten crabs in Europe. We urge to further monitor mitten crab invasions using genetic tools.

Cryptic diversity and mtDNA phylogeography of the invasive demon shrimp, Dikerogammarus haemobaphes (Eichwald, 1841), in Europe

“…Many successful invaders belong to crustaceans. Some prominent examples are the spiny-cheek crayfish Faxonius limosus (Rafinesque, 1817) and the amphipod Dikerogammarus villosus (Sowinsky, 1894) in European fresh waters (Filipová et al 2011, Rewicz et al 2015, the cladoceran Cercopagis pengoi (Ostroumov, 1891) in the North American Great Lakes (Ricciardi and MacIsaac 2000) or the Chinese mitten crab Eriocheir sinensis H. Milne Edwards, 1853 invading brackish and fresh waters globally (Dittel and Epifanio 2009;Hayer et al 2019). Numerous studies demonstrated well that such invasions may alter, more or less profoundly, the structure and functioning of aquatic ecosystems (DAISIE 2009;Ricciardi and MacIsaac 2011;Strayer 2012).…”

Genetic and morphological evidence indicates the persistence of Japanese mitten crab mitochondrial DNA in Europe for over 20 years and its introgression into Chinese mitten crabs

“…We trimmed, aligned and error-checked sequences in Geneious software v. 9.8.1 (Kearse et al 2012). In addition to the newly-generated COI sequences, we also included the COI data of Hänfling et al (2002) and the data accumulated by Hayer et al (2019) for northern, western and central Europe. Otto (2012) reported six additional haplotypes unique to northern Germany that were subsequently included in the study of Hayer et al (2019) as H12 to H17.…”

“…In addition to the newly-generated COI sequences, we also included the COI data of Hänfling et al (2002) and the data accumulated by Hayer et al (2019) for northern, western and central Europe. Otto (2012) reported six additional haplotypes unique to northern Germany that were subsequently included in the study of Hayer et al (2019) as H12 to H17. We recovered none of these haplotypes, neither in the samples we collected between 2018 and 2020 from the same localities nor in the museum samples that were collected by Thurid Otto herself between 2008 and 2009.…”

“…In a global assessment of mitten crab diversity, Hayer et al (2019) synthesised all available sequences of the mitochondrial gene for cytochrome oxidase c subunit I (COI hereafter) for mitten crabs from GenBank and the Barcoding of Life Data System (BOLD, https://www.boldsystems.org/). They found that some specimens of presumed Chinese mitten crabs collected in The Netherlands, Poland and Germany between 2009 and 2015 yielded COI sequences of the Japanese mitten crab, E. japonica (De Haan, 1835).…”

Distribution pattern of the brackish Apocorophium lacustre (Vanhoffen, 1911) (Amphipoda: Corophiidae) and the structure of the amphipod assemblages in the upper Oder River catchment

“…This method commonly has been used in studies on molecular species identification and the cryptic diversity of various nonnative and invasive invertebrates, including amphipods (e.g. Hayer et al, 2019; Jablonska et al, 2018; Rewicz et al, 2016; Rewicz et al, 2019; Rewicz et al, 2020). The relevant voucher information is accessible through the public data set “DS‐APOPL” (https://dx.doi.org/10.5883/DS-APOPL) in BOLD.…”