Open AccessEvidence of introgressive hybridization between the morphologically divergent land snails A inohelix and E zohelix
Author(s) -
Morii Yuta,
Yokoyama Jun,
Kawata Masakado,
Davison Angus,
Chiba Satoshi
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
biological journal of the linnean society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.906
H-Index - 112
eISSN - 1095-8312
pISSN - 0024-4066
DOI - 10.1111/bij.12466
Subject(s) - biology , introgression , reproductive isolation , mitochondrial dna , internal transcribed spacer , evolutionary biology , phylogenetic tree , nuclear gene , taxon , morphology (biology) , nuclear dna , land snail , gene flow , zoology , phylogenetics , taxonomy (biology) , ecology , gene , gastropoda , genetics , genetic variation , population , sociology , demography
Hybridization between different taxa is likely to take place when adaptive morphological differences evolve more rapidly than reproductive isolation. When studying the phylogenetic relationship between two land snails of different nominal genera, A inohelix editha and E zohelix gainesi , from Hokkaido, J apan, using nuclear internal transcribed spacer and mitochondrial 16S ribosomal DNA , we found a marked incongruence in the topology between nuclear and mitochondrial phylogenies. Furthermore, no clear association was found between shell morphology (which defines the taxonomy) and nuclear or mitochondrial trees and morphology of reproductive system. These patterns are most likely explained by historical introgressive hybridization between A . editha and E . gainesi . Because the shell morphologies of the two species are quite distinct, even when they coexist, the implication is that natural selection is able to maintain (or has recreated) distinct morphologies in the face of gene flow. Future studies may be able to reveal the regions of the genome that maintain the morphological differences between these species. © 2015 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society , 2015, 115 , 77–95.