Mitochondrial phylogeography of New Zealand freshwater crayfishes, Paranephrops spp.

Abstract

Tectonic movement at the boundary of the Indo-Australian and Pacific Plates during the Miocene and Pliocene is recognized as a driving force for invertebrate speciation in New Zealand. Two endemic freshwater crayfish (koura) species, Paranephrops planifrons White 1842 and Paranephrops zealandicus White 1842, represent good model taxa to test geological hypotheses because, due to their low dispersal capacity and life history, geographical restriction of populations may be caused by vicariant processes. Analysis of a mitochondrial DNA marker (cytochrome oxidase subunit I) reveals not two, but three major koura lineages. Contrary to expectation, the cryptic West Coast group appears to be more closely related to P. zealandicus than to P. planifrons and has diverged earlier than the final development (Late Pleistocene) of Cook Strait. Our date estimates suggest that koura lineage diversification probably coincided with early to mid-Alpine orogeny in the mid-Pliocene. Estimates of node ages and the phylogenies are inconsistent with both ancient Oligocene and recent postglacial Pleistocene range expansion, but suggest central to north colonization of North Island and west to east movement in South Island during mid- to late Pliocene. Crypsis and paraphyly of the West Coast group suggest that morphological characters presently used to classify koura species could be misleading.

Evolution of New Zealand's terrestrial fauna: a review of molecular evidence

“…Such range shifts probably reflect shifting habitat availability following the last Pleistocene glaciation (i.e. warming climate and southwards expansion of forests), although some appear to be earlier than Late Pleistocene (freshwater crayfish; Apte et al 2007). Flying forest birds (e.g.…”

Small‐scale population‐genetic differentiation in the New Zealand caddisflyOrthopsyche fimbriataand the crayfishParanephrops planifrons

“…Thus, the genetic divergence observed between neighbouring catchments has most in North Island streams) as observed in presentday populations (Rabeni et al 1997;Parkyn et al 2002;Parkyn & Collier 2004), would have promoted divergence among small isolated populations in neighbouring catchments. Support for a recent divergence also comes from a New Zealand-wide study of Paranephrops in which divergence between P. planifrons and P. zealandicus was estimated to have occurred in the mid to late Pliocene (Apte et al 2007).…”

“…Previous molecular studies have revealed significant genetic differentiation at North Island wide scales for both O. fimbriata (Smith & Collier 2001;Smith et al 2006b) and P. planifrons (Apte et al 2007). However, levels of genetic differentiation within and between neighbouring catchments at small spatial scales are for the most part unknown, and knowledge of the level of local divergence is a prerequisite for selecting stock for restoration projects.…”

Morphometric variation in allopatric populations of Aegla platensis (Crustacea: Decapoda: Anomura): possible evidence for cryptic speciation

“…However, cryptic species are widespread in this group (Knowlton 1986). In crayfish, for example, phylogenetic analyses have revealed high intraspecific molecular diversity and unexpected lineages, indicating the presence of cryptic species (Harris and Crandall 2000;Buhay et al 2007;Apte et al 2007;Mathews et al 2008). The decapod superfamily Aegloidea Dana, 1852, occurs in the southern Neotropical region and is the only anomuran group to inhabit continental waters (Bond-Buckup and Buckup 1994).…”