DNA barcoding and species delimitation: the Stylodrilus heringianus case (Annelida : Clitellata : Lumbriculidae)

Abstract

Individuals of the aquatic oligochaete species Stylodrilus heringianus Claparède, 1862 were collected across a part of this species’ distribution range in Sweden, Estonia, Great Britain and Spain to test whether they represent a single metapopulation or several separately evolving lineages. Using sequences of the barcoding gene cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) and two nuclear genes (internal transcribed spacer region and histone 3), three different approaches were conducted: pairwise distance-method, Bayesian inference and network analysis. Both the COI phylogeny and network analyses were concordant in recovering six haplotype clusters, which showed a maximum genetic distance of 7.7% (K2P) among each other. Nevertheless, nuclear genes failed to confirm any lineage separation, and we conclude that the sampled specimens all belong to the same species. A phylogeographic history with allopatric divergence and secondary contact is suggested to explain this intraspecific pattern of mitochondrial divergence and nuclear non-divergence. The study shows that a mitochondrial single-locus approach can be problematic for the accurate delimitation of species, and we emphasise the need for nuclear genes as supplementary markers, when taxonomic resolution is assessed with COI barcodes.