Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, CIBIO, InBIO Laboratório Associado, 9501-801, Pólo dos Açores, Ponta Delgada, Açores, Portugal.
BIOPOLIS Program in Genomics, Biodiversity and Land Planning, CIBIO, Campus de Vairão, 4485-661, Vairão, Portugal.
BMC Ecol Evol. 2022 Nov 4;22(1):128. doi: 10.1186/s12862-022-02080-z.
As in most bryozoans, taxonomy and systematics of species in the genus Reteporella Busk, 1884 (family Phidoloporidae) has hitherto almost exclusively been based on morphological characters. From the central North Atlantic Azores Archipelago, nine Reteporella species have historically been reported, none of which have as yet been revised. Aiming to characterise the diversity and biogeographic distribution of Azorean Reteporella species, phylogenetic reconstructions were conducted on a dataset of 103 Azorean Reteporella specimens, based on the markers cytochrome C oxidase subunit 1, small and large ribosomal RNA subunits. Morphological identification was based on scanning electron microscopy and complemented the molecular inferences.
Our results reveal two genetically distinct Azorean Reteporella clades, paraphyletic to eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean taxa. Moreover, an overall concordance between morphological and molecular species can be shown, and the actual bryozoan diversity in the Azores is greater than previously acknowledged as the dataset comprises three historically reported species and four putative new taxa, all of which are likely to be endemic. The inclusion of Mediterranean Reteporella specimens also revealed new species in the Adriatic and Ligurian Sea, whilst the inclusion of additional phidoloporid taxa hints at the non-monophyly of the genus Reteporella.
Being the first detailed genetic study on the genus Reteporella, the high divergence levels inferred within the genus Reteporella and family Phidoloporidae calls for the need of further revision. Nevertheless, the overall concordance between morphospecies and COI data suggest the potential adequacy of a 3% cut-off to distinguish Reteporella species. The discovery of new species in the remote Azores Archipelago as well as in the well-studied Mediterranean Sea indicates a general underestimation of bryozoan diversity. This study constitutes yet another example of the importance of integrative taxonomical approaches on understudied taxa, contributing to cataloguing genetic and morphological diversity.
与大多数苔藓动物门动物一样，Reteporella Busk, 1884 属（Phidoloporidae 科）的物种分类学和系统发育学迄今为止几乎完全基于形态特征。从北大西洋亚速尔群岛，历史上共报道了 9 种 Reteporella 物种，但这些物种都尚未进行修订。为了描述亚速尔群岛 Reteporella 物种的多样性和生物地理分布，对基于线粒体细胞色素 C 氧化酶亚基 1、小和大亚核糖体 RNA 亚基的 103 个亚速尔群岛 Reteporella 标本数据集进行了系统发育重建。形态鉴定基于扫描电子显微镜，并补充了分子推断。
我们的结果揭示了两个在遗传上有区别的亚速尔群岛 Reteporella 分支，与东大西洋和地中海分类群为并系关系。此外，形态和分子物种之间存在总体一致性，亚速尔群岛的实际苔藓动物多样性比以前认为的要大，因为数据集包括 3 种历史上报道的物种和 4 种可能的新分类群，所有这些都可能是特有种。包括地中海 Reteporella 标本也揭示了亚得里亚海和利古里亚海的新物种，而包括其他 Phidoloporidae 分类群暗示 Reteporella 属的非单系性。
作为对 Reteporella 属的首次详细遗传研究，属内和 Phidoloporidae 科内推断的高分化水平需要进一步修订。然而，形态种和 COI 数据之间的总体一致性表明，3%的截断值可能足以区分 Reteporella 物种。在偏远的亚速尔群岛以及在研究充分的地中海发现新物种表明，苔藓动物多样性被普遍低估。这项研究再次证明了对研究较少的分类群采用综合分类学方法的重要性，有助于对遗传和形态多样性进行编目。
