HUSCAP logo Hokkaido Univ. logo

Hokkaido University Collection of Scholarly and Academic Papers >
Graduate School of Science / Faculty of Science >
Peer-reviewed Journal Articles, etc >

Reversible shifts between interstitial and epibenthic habitats in evolutionary history : Molecular phylogeny of the marine flatworm family Boniniidae (Platyhelminthes: Polycladida: Cotylea) with descriptions of two new species

Files in This Item:

The file(s) associated with this item can be obtained from the following URL: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0276847


Title: Reversible shifts between interstitial and epibenthic habitats in evolutionary history : Molecular phylogeny of the marine flatworm family Boniniidae (Platyhelminthes: Polycladida: Cotylea) with descriptions of two new species
Authors: Tsuyuki, Aoi Browse this author
Oya, Yuki Browse this author
Kajihara, Hiroshi Browse this author →KAKEN DB
Issue Date: 23-Nov-2022
Publisher: PLOS
Journal Title: PLoS ONE
Volume: 17
Issue: 11
Start Page: e0276847
Publisher DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0276847
Abstract: Tiny animals in various metazoan phyla inhabit the interstices between sand and/or gravel grains, and adaptive traits in their body plan, such as simplification and size reduction, have attracted research attention. Several possible explanations of how such animals colonized interstitial habitats have been proposed, but their adaptation to this environment has generally been regarded as irreversible. However, the actual evolutionary transitions are not well understood in almost all taxa. In the present study, we show reversible evolutionary shifts from interstitial to epibenthic habitats in the lineage of the polyclad flatworm genus Boninia. In addition, we establish two new species of this genus found from different microhabitats on a single beach in Okinawa Island, Japan: (i) the interstitial species Boninia uru sp. nov. from gravelly sediments and (ii) the epibenthic species Boninia yambarensis sp. nov. from rock undersurfaces. Our observations suggest that rigid microhabitat segregation exists between these two species. Molecular phylogenetic analyses based on the partial 18S and 28S rDNA sequences of the new Boninia species and four other congeners, for which molecular sequences were available in public databases [Boninia antillara (epibenthic), Boninia divae (epibenthic), Boninia neotethydis (interstitial), and an unidentified Boninia sp. (habitat indeterminate)], revealed that the two interstitial species (B. neotethydis and B. uru sp. nov.) were not monophyletic among the three epibenthic species. According to ancestral state reconstruction analysis, the last common ancestor of the analyzed Boninia species inhabited interstitial realms, and a shift to the epibenthic environment occurred at least once. Such an interstitial to noninterstitial evolutionary route seems to be rare among Animalia; to date, it has been reported only in acochlidian slugs in the clade Hedylopsacea. Our phylogenetic tree also showed that the sympatric B. uru sp. nov. and B. yambarensis sp. nov. were not in a sister relationship, indicating that they colonized the same beach independently rather than descended in situ from a common ancestor that migrated and settled at the beach.
Type: article
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2115/88915
Appears in Collections:理学院・理学研究院 (Graduate School of Science / Faculty of Science) > 雑誌発表論文等 (Peer-reviewed Journal Articles, etc)

Export metadata:

OAI-PMH ( junii2 , jpcoar_1.0 )

MathJax is now OFF:


 

 - Hokkaido University