Taxonomy and molecular phylogeny of the Neotropical genus Atlantoscia (Oniscidea, Philosciidae): DNA barcoding and description of two new species. (August 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Zimmermann, Bianca L.; Campos‐Filho, Ivanklin S.; Deprá, Maríndia; Araujo, Paula B.
• Is Part Of: Zoological journal of the Linnean Society. Volume 174:Number 4(2015:Aug.)
• Page Start: 702
• Page End: 717
• Publication Date: 2015-08
• Subjects: Zoology -- Periodicals; 590
• DOI: 10.1111/zoj.12256
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0024-4082

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="main"> <title> <x xml:space="preserve">Abstract</x> </title> <p>Identification to the species level using morphology is challenging when usual diagnostic characters are similar amongst related taxa. Within the Neotropical genus <italic>Atlantoscia</italic>, differences between nominal species are generally small and restricted to a few characters. Despite the power of DNA sequencing to identify and distinguish between species, molecular phylogenies of terrestrial isopods from the Neotropics have not been determined. In this study, two new species of <italic>Atlantoscia</italic> were described and molecular markers were used to verify both the validity of the current taxonomy and the relationships amongst the species within this genus. All of the recognized <italic>Atlantoscia</italic> species were strongly supported in the generated phylogenetic trees. The average congeneric distance was 14.7%, with <italic>Atlantoscia ituberasensis</italic> and <italic>Atlantoscia rubromarginata</italic> showing the highest genetic divergence. Our results demonstrate the utility of the <italic>cytochrome c oxidase subunit I</italic> gene together with DNA barcoding to reliably distinguish <italic>Atlantoscia</italic> species. They also show that DNA barcoding may be helpful in those cases in which classical taxonomy does not provide clear‐cut species resolution. © 2015 The Linnean Society of London</p> </abstract>