Eight new mitogenomes clarify the phylogenetic relationships of Stromboidea within the caenogastropod phylogenetic framework

The queen conch mitogenome: intra- and interspecific mitogenomic variability in Strombidae and phylogenetic considerations within the Hypsogastropoda

“…Many countries have implemented management strategies at the regional level, though an international synchronization of management and conservation practices is also in play to try to recover stock populations 1 , 6 . A. gigas has been extensively studied to better understand its biology e.g., 4 , 7 , ecology e.g., 8 , 9 , population genetic structure e.g., 1 , 10 , conservation status e.g., 6 , 11 , and phylogenomic position 12 – 15 .…”

“…The SPF Stromboidea (Rafinesque, 1815) belongs to the Hypsogastropoda clade within the higher taxonomic group Caenogastropoda 15 , 16 . The membership, taxonomy, and relationships within Hypsogastropoda, however, have been in considerable flux in the last two decades.…”

“…Genetic and genomic studies proposed Tonnoidea SPF as an early branching lineage within the Neogastropoda e.g., 12 , 13 , 16 supporting the Bouchet et al 18 classification. The phylogenetic position of Xenophoridae has been debated as a sister clade to Stromboidea 16 , 19 or embedded within Stromboidea 15 .…”

“…Ascertaining the phylogenetic position of family Strombidae has been particularly difficult; studies have considered them as belonging to Littorinimorpha 14 – 16 , 23 or to Latrogastropoda e.g., 13 , 21 , 22 . Identifying the closest relatives to Strombidae has also been challenging, and has been closely associated with Xenorphoridae 15 , 16 , 19 , Cypraeoidea 12 , Tonnoidea 14 , 23 , or sister to the Latrogastropoda or even Neogastropoda e.g., 13 , 21 , 22 . The recent proliferation of available mitogenomes provides an opportunity to conduct detailed analyses to better understand and confirm the phylogenetic position of Strombidae within the Hypsogastropoda clade.…”

“…We take advantage of the large number of mitogenomes in clade Hypsogastropoda available on GenBank, including the very recent Stromboidea mitogenomes published 15 , 37 , and the two mitogenomes of A. gigas to: (i) present and describe a completely annotated mitogenome of A. gigas from the Mexican Caribbean, (ii) quantify intraspecific variation between our newly generated A. gigas mitogenome with that of one from off the coast of Colombia, (iii) evaluate interspecific variation among eight Strombidae species, (iv) confirm the phylogenetic position of Stromboidea and its relationship with Xenophoridae, as well as the relationships between eight Strombidae species using 110 mitogenomes, and finally, (v) estimate divergence times throughout Hypsogastropoda, Stromboidea, Strombidae and Aliger , respectively.…”