EarthwormDrawida(Moniligastridae) Molecular phylogeny and diversity in Far East Russia and Northeast China

Abstract

In the Sikhote-Alin and Changbai Mountains of the Amur River region, earthworms of genus Drawida inhabit the northern boundary of their natural habitat. They are represented by the epigeic and anecic life-forms, three steady colour morphs and eight valid species, yet the genetic lineages of 11 have yet to be described. Based on mt-COI gene fragment sequence data, epigeic and anecic earthworms are shown to differ from one another at the interspecific level. Polymorphism and genetic intraspecific diversity are an obligatory sign for a species in the refuge even at the boundary of its distribution where this species occupies new ecological niches. The original habitats of the ancient Drawida black morph were within the Paleo-Amur River basin in the Late Neogene. Today, the meadow-swampy drawidas protrude far north along the Amur River floodplain up to the border of the last freezing in this region in comparison to the forest earthworms. However, at similar northern latitudes such as the Kuril Islands and the Sakhalin, Drawida are absent, because the soil on these islands during the last Ice Age was permafrost. The black epigeic drawidas only live in the floodplain meadows. The grey and brown morphs of the anecic species live in same forest biotopes, where they inhabit different soil horizons.

Two new Drawida (Oligochaeta, Moniligastridae) earthworms from Vietnam

“…The average interspecific distance in the genus Drawida was previously reported as 22%, and the maximum one was 34.3% between D. impertusa and D. deshayesi ( Thakur et al 2021 ). The p -genetic distance was also known to range from 18% between D. koreana and D. japonica japonica to 24.82% between D. koreana and D. gracilis ( Zhang et al 2020 ).…”

“…India, Myanmar, Malay Peninsula, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, China, Korea, Japan, Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Borneo, Sumatra, Java, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Far East of Russia, Caribbean, Australia, and various Pacific islands ( Gates 1972 ; Blakemore 2002 ; Chang et al 2009 ; Zhang et al 2020 ).…”

DNA Barcoding: Molecular Identification and Phylogenetic Analysis of Pheretimoid Earthworm (<i>Metaphire</i> sp. and <i>Amynthas</i> sp.) Based on Mitochondrial Partial COI Gene from Sialkot, Pakistan

“…Only eight species are classified as Metaphire, 3 to Amynthas, and one as unidentified Fig. 3 Divergence time estimation from phylogenetic tree inferred from partial COI gene sequences of 59 pheretimoid species and H. medicinalis as an out-group using calibration points 52) . The divergence values are given at the nodes of the phylogeny in Million years (Ma) .…”

Approaches to Ecological Classification of Earthworms: A Review

“…Earthworms inhabiting meadows and swamps are epi-endogeic, black-colored and have an optional diapause; forest earthworms are anecic, have a brownish color and an obligate diapause (Ganin, 2013(Ganin, a, 2013Ganin, 2014). However, upon further study of the identified forms, especially the study of their phylogeny using molecular biology methods, it was found that forest anecic earthworms Drawida ghilarovi consist of ten separate genetic lineages, which hypothetically can be different species, whereas the black epi-endogeic meadow and swamp morph represents a new species (Zhang et al, 2020).…”