Taxonomic characterization of Omalacantha bicornuta (Latreille, 1825) (Brachyura, Mithracidae): molecular and phylogeographic analyzes

• Grant number: 24/05305-9
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: May 01, 2024
• Status: Discontinued
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Zoology - Taxonomy of Recent Groups
• Principal Investigator: Fernando Luis Medina Mantelatto
• Grantee: Maria Clara Gomes Petita
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto (FFCLRP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Ribeirão Preto , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 18/13685-5 - Integrative analysis of the Brazilian fauna of decapod crustaceans: taxonomy, phylogenetic systematics, spermiotaxonomy, morphology of post-embryonic development, ecology and conservation, AP.BTA.TEM
• Associated scholarship(s): 25/09043-1 - Morphological analysis of the morphologically similar genera Omalacantha and Microphrys to construct a rediagnosis for Omalacantha bicornuta, BE.EP.IC

Abstract

Knowing about the genetic variation of a population is important to understand more about taxonomy and how geographic distribution plays a role in evolutionary mechanisms on animals. That way, this study investigated the taxonomy, geography distribution and genetic variation of the crab species from the Mithracidae family Omalacantha bicornuta. To do the study, I will use morphological data (especially diagnostic characters for this crab) and molecular data to construct a haplotype network to analyze the possibility of having some evolutionary processes (speciation, for example) on that distribution. With the results of the haplotype network, I intend to analyze the possibility of having a cryptic species on this crab, based on the geography distribution.