Invasive lumbricid earthworms of Kamchatka (Oligochaeta)

Abstract

Background: Invasive earthworms often have huge ecological impact, especially when they colonize previously earthworm-free zones. Kamchatka is a remote and weakly populated region whose invertebrate fauna is insufficiently studied. We investigated earthworm diversity in several natural and anthropogenic habitats of Kamchatka by morphological analysis and barcoding using the mitochondrial cox1 gene. Results: We added four new species (Dendrobaena octaedra, Dendrobaena attemsi, Lumbricus rubellus, and Aporrectodea caliginosa) and one subspecies (Dendrodrilus rubidus subrubicundus) to the four earthworm species known previously from this region. Moreover, this is the first report of Dendrobaena attemsi in Asia. We found one mtDNA haplotype for each Eisenia fetida, Dendrodrilus rubidus subrubicundus, and Dendrodrilus rubidus tenuis; two significantly diverged haplotypes for Dendrobaena octaedra and A. caliginosa; and three for L. rubellus. In addition, cox1 sequences of Eisenia nordenskioldi nordenskioldi, the only earthworm species that could be of native origin, were identical to those of Eisenia nordenskioldi pallida from Khakassia and Tuva.Conclusions: Molecular genetic analysis demonstrated that all earthworms found by us are of invasive origin, and for some of them, there were most probably several independent introduction events. This turned out to be true even for E. nordenskioldi, the species that was earlier considered to be native to this region. Our results suggest it might be possible that the whole earthworm fauna of Kamchatka is of invasive origin, which makes it a good model for studying the effects of earthworm invasions into previously earthworm-free regions.

Phylogeography of the earthworm Eisenia nordenskioldi nordenskioldi (Lumbricidae, Oligochaeta) in northeastern Eurasia

“…Genomic DNA was iso lated, and fragments of the mitochondrial gene of cytochrome oxidase 1 (cox1) were amplified. All experimental procedures were described previously [8]. In some cases, at shortage of the amount of ampli fied fragments, additional PCR was performed with the primers LCO FE (5' AAATC ACAAA GATAT TGGCA CTCT 3') and HCO FE (5' TGGGT GTCCG AAGAA TCAGA ATA 3') specially elabo rated for this lineage of E. n. nordenskioldi.…”

Different dispersal histories of lineages of the earthworm Aporrectodea caliginosa (Lumbricidae, Annelida) in the Palearctic

“…Capillary electrophoresis of the sequencing products was performed in the Novosibirsk Sequencing Center. All sequences obtained in this study were deposited in GenBank under accession numbers KF471778-KF471786, KF471793-KF471830, KF471843-KF472049, KU358729-KU35 8873, and KP789177-KP789310; accessions KF471 787-92 and KF471831-KF471842 were published earlier in Shekhovtsov et al (2014).…”

Genetic diversity of the Aporrectodea caliginosa complex in Russia

“…Для амплификации фрагмента гена гистона H3 приме няли универсальные праймеры H3aF (5′ATGGCTCGTA CCAAGCAGACVGC3′) и H3aR (5′ATATCCTTRG GCATRATRGTGAC3′), взятые из работы (Colgan et al, 1998) Для анализа данных были взяты последовательно сти cox1 A. c. caliginosa, опубликованные в наших преды дущих работах: KP789177-KP789310, KF471787-92, KF471831-KF471842 (Shekhovtsov et al, 2014a); KF471778-KF471786, KF471793-KF471830, KF471843-KF472049, KU358729-KU358873 (Shekhovtsov et al, 2016a). Кроме того, исследованная выборка включала в себя последова тельности из статей (Porco et al, 2013;Martinsson et al, 2015).…”