TY - JOUR

T1 - Endemics or strangers? The integrative re-appraisal of taxonomy and phylogeny of the Greenland Lymnaeidae (Mollusca: Gastropoda)

AU - Vinarski, Maxim V.

AU - Bolotov, Ivan N.

AU - Schniebs, Katrin

AU - Nekhaev, Ivan O.

AU - Hundsdoerfer, Anna K.

PY - 2017/12/14

Y1 - 2017/12/14

N2 - The Lymnaeidae constitute a significant part of the freshwater molluscan diversity of Greenland. Since 1842, not less than 10 nominal taxa of the species and variety rank were described to organise the diversity of the Greenland lymnaeid snails. All previous attempts to revise these taxa systematically were based on morphological evidence only. Here, we provide a molecular analysis of the phylogenetic affinity and systematic status of three alleged species of the Greenland Lymnaeidae: Lymnaea vahlii (Møller, 1842), L. holboellii (Møller, 1842), and L. pingelii (Møller, 1842). We examined the newly collected material and inspected the type series of the three species. Our results show a very tight relationship between the Greenland snails and the Nearctic species Ladislavella catascopium (Say, 1817) s. lato. From the genetic point of view, the Greenland populations should be classified within L. catascopium albeit probably with the merit of a subspecies status. The three nominal species of lymnaeids described by Møller (1842) are apparently synonyms of each other. Our findings assume a rather recent colonisation of Greenland by snails arriving from the North American mainland that is compatible with the so called “tabula rasa” hypothesis, proposed to explain the currently observed taxonomic diversity of continental animals and plants of the North Atlantic islands. No lymnaeid species endemic to Greenland is thus revealed.

AB - The Lymnaeidae constitute a significant part of the freshwater molluscan diversity of Greenland. Since 1842, not less than 10 nominal taxa of the species and variety rank were described to organise the diversity of the Greenland lymnaeid snails. All previous attempts to revise these taxa systematically were based on morphological evidence only. Here, we provide a molecular analysis of the phylogenetic affinity and systematic status of three alleged species of the Greenland Lymnaeidae: Lymnaea vahlii (Møller, 1842), L. holboellii (Møller, 1842), and L. pingelii (Møller, 1842). We examined the newly collected material and inspected the type series of the three species. Our results show a very tight relationship between the Greenland snails and the Nearctic species Ladislavella catascopium (Say, 1817) s. lato. From the genetic point of view, the Greenland populations should be classified within L. catascopium albeit probably with the merit of a subspecies status. The three nominal species of lymnaeids described by Møller (1842) are apparently synonyms of each other. Our findings assume a rather recent colonisation of Greenland by snails arriving from the North American mainland that is compatible with the so called “tabula rasa” hypothesis, proposed to explain the currently observed taxonomic diversity of continental animals and plants of the North Atlantic islands. No lymnaeid species endemic to Greenland is thus revealed.

KW - Biogeography

KW - Dispersal

KW - Greenland

KW - Molecular phylogeny

KW - Morphological variation

KW - North Atlantic

KW - Subspecies

KW - Taxonomy

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85033725212&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.crvi.2017.09.005

DO - 10.1016/j.crvi.2017.09.005

M3 - Article

C2 - 29097113

AN - SCOPUS:85033725212

VL - 340

SP - 541

EP - 557

JO - Comptes Rendus - Biologies

JF - Comptes Rendus - Biologies

SN - 1631-0691

IS - 11-12

ER -