Phylogeography of the blue land crab,Cardisoma guanhumi(Decapoda: Gecarcinidae) along the Brazilian coast

Abstract

Several crab species are important fishery resources in Brazil and their overexploitation has lead to severe population declines in some regions. The management of populations of these species should take into account the degree of gene flow among populations in different estuaries. The goal of the present study is to assess the degree of geographical structure in the genetic diversity of the blue land crab, Cardisoma guanhumi, along the Brazilian coast. A fragment of the control region of the mtDNA (750 bp) was sequenced for 95 specimens collected across 5 Brazilian states. Analyses using F-statistics failed to indicate any evidence of geographical structure, a result that was corroborated by a nested clade analysis of the same dataset. Mismatch distribution analyses indicated that populations of the blue land crab have experienced an expansion during their recent evolutionary past. The obtained results are similar to those recently described for another sympatric crab, Ucides cordatus, particularly with respect to the extensive degree of gene flow. However, populations of C. guanhumi seem to be older than those of U. cordatus and do not show the north–south expansion found in that species.

Closing a distributional gap of over 3000 km and encountering an invisible barrier: new presence/absence data for Johngarthia planata Stimpson, 1860 (Decapoda, Brachyura, Gecarcinidae) for Central America and biogeographic notes on East Pacific Gecarcinidae

“…Amplification of dispersal capacity through coastal currents was also suggested for larvae of the Atlantic Cardisoma guanhumi Latreille, 1828 and Ucides cordatus (Linnaeus, 1763) (Brachyura, Ocypodidae), which did not show a statistically significant geographical structure in the pattern of genetic variability within a distributional range of 5000 km coastline (Oliveira-Neto et al, 2008).…”

Genetic homogeneity and historical expansions of the slipper lobster, Scyllarides brasiliensis, in the south-west Atlantic

“…with Lutjanus purpureus: Gomes et al 2012;Scomberomorus cavalla: Santa-Brígida et al 2007;Ocyurus chrysurus: Vasconcellos et al 2008; Farfantepenaeus brasiliensis and Litopenaeus schmitti: Gusmão et al 2005; Ucides cordatus: Oliveira-Neto et al 2007; Cardisoma guanhumi : Oliveira-Neto et al 2008).…”

Population biology and color patterns of the blue land crab, Cardisoma guanhumi (Latreille 1828) (Crustacea: Gecarcinidae) in the Northeastern Brazil

“…Studies on C. guanhumi are extremely important, since there is an enormous lack of information, especially in northeastern Brazil (Abrunhosa et al, 2000;Botelho et al, 2001;Shinozaki-Mendes et al, 2008;Shinozaki-Mendes et al, 2012a, b) related to the population biology; this information is essential for the proper management of this resource, to allow sustainable exploitation of the species, as its populations are already being overexploited (De Oliveira-Neto et al, 2008;Firmo et al, 2012;Shinozaki-Mendes et al, 2012a).…”