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24 October 2023 Population-Level DNA Study of Stenotrema and Euchemotrema (Gastropoda: Polygyridae: Stenotrematini) Reveals Majority of Species are Poorly Circumscribed
Alexander C. Cooper, Elizabeth A. Bergey, Kathryn E. Perez
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Abstract

The North American land snail tribe Stenotrematini (Emberton, 1995) is composed of 40 taxa from the genera Stenotrema (Rafinesque, 1819) and Euchemotrema (Archer, 1939). We conducted the first thorough examination of this group since 1948 by sequencing 196 individuals representing 31 of 40 members of the tribe using a combination of cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) and a portion of the 5.8S gene of the large ribosomal subunit (LSU) with the accompanying internal transcribed spacer (ITS-2) region. We reexamined the validity of this tribe by incorporating new sequences with previous DNA work on the group and found strong support for both genera, but weak support for their sister relationship. We examined if species were well-circumscribed by comparing identifications based on shell morphology from a group of experienced land snail identifiers with three methods of species delimitation analyses (ASAP, bPTP, and SDA) applied to the COI dataset. All species delimitation analyses identified significantly more putative than described species. Further, there was disagreement in 52.5% of species between expert identification and monophyletic species-level clades. Part of the high number of putative species identified from species delimitation analyses may result from fragmented population structure, as among our two most heavily sampled taxa Euchemotrema wichitorum (Branson, 1972) and Euchemotrema leaii (A. Binney, 1840), the former had a strong signal of isolation by distance between populations and many more identified putative species than the latter, whose populations showed no pattern of isolation by distance. Lastly, we elevate Euchemotrema imperforatum (Pilsbry, 1900) to species based on a sister relationship with Euchemotrema hubrichti (Pilsbry, 1940) rather than Euchemotrema fraternum (Say, 1824) and highlight several additional species in need of further examination.

Alexander C. Cooper, Elizabeth A. Bergey, and Kathryn E. Perez "Population-Level DNA Study of Stenotrema and Euchemotrema (Gastropoda: Polygyridae: Stenotrematini) Reveals Majority of Species are Poorly Circumscribed," American Malacological Bulletin 40(1), 1-23, (24 October 2023). https://doi.org/10.4003/006.040.0107
Received: 12 December 2023; Accepted: 3 July 2023; Published: 24 October 2023
KEYWORDS
land snail
Oklahoma fauna
systematics
taxonomy
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