2024-03-28T16:57:28Zhttp://digital.csic.es/dspace-oai/requestoai:digital.csic.es:10261/1533602021-12-28T15:40:49Zcom_10261_9676com_10261_8col_10261_9677
Unexpectedly High Levels of Cryptic Diversity Uncovered by a Complete DNA Barcoding of Reptiles of the Socotra Archipelago
Vasconcelos, Raquel
Montero-Mendieta, Santiago
Simó-Riudalbas, Marc
Sindaco, Roberto
Santos, Xavier
Fasola, Mauro
Llorente, Gustavo A.
Razzetti, Edoardo
Carranza, Salvador
Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (España)
European Commission
Generalitat de Catalunya
Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (Portugal)
Few DNA barcoding studies of squamate reptiles have been conducted. Due to the significance of the Socotra Archipelago (a UNESCO Natural World Heritage site and a biodiversity hotspot) and the conservation interest of its reptile fauna (94% endemics), we performed the most comprehensive DNA barcoding study on an island group to date to test its applicability to specimen identification and species discovery. Reptiles constitute Socotra’s most important vertebrate fauna, yet their taxonomy remains under-studied. We successfully DNA-barcoded 380 individuals of all 31 presently recognized species. The specimen identification success rate is moderate to high, and almost all species presented local barcoding gaps. The unexpected high levels of intra-specific variability found within some species suggest cryptic diversity. Species richness may be under-estimated by 13.8–54.4%. This has implications in the species’ ranges and conservation status that should be considered for conservation planning. Other phylogenetic studies using mitochondrial and nuclear markers are congruent with our results. We conclude that, despite its reduced length (663 base pairs), cytochrome c oxidase 1, COI, is very useful for specimen identification and for detecting intra-specific diversity, and has a good phylogenetic signal. We recommend DNA barcoding to be applied to other biodiversity hotspots for quickly and cost-efficiently flagging species discovery, preferentially incorporated into an integrative taxonomic framework.
This article is an output of project CGL2012-36970 led by SC from the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (www.mineco.gob.es), Spain (co-funded by FEDER) with the support of Secretaria d’Universitats i Recerca del Departament d’Economia i Coneixement de la Generalitat de Catalunya (2014-SGR-1532; http://universitatsirecerca.gencat.cat/ca). MSR is funded by a FPI grant from the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, Spain (BES-2013-064248). RV and XS are supported by Postdoctoral grants from FCT, Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (SFRH/BPD/79913/2011 and SFRH⁄BPD⁄73176/2010, respectively) financed by The European Social Fund and the Human Potential Operational Programme, POPH/FSE (www.fct.pt).
Peer reviewed
2017-07-21T07:46:58Z
2017-07-21T07:46:58Z
2016-03-01
artículo
http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501
PLoS ONE 11(3): e0149985 (2016)
1932-6203
http://hdl.handle.net/10261/153360
10.1371/journal.pone.0149985
http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100003329
http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100000780
http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100002809
http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100001871
26930572
en
Publisher's version
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0149985
Sí
open
Public Library of Science