Assessing biodiversity shortfalls of freshwater meiofauna from the Atlantic Forest: New species, distribution patterns and the first total-evidence phylogeny of semiplanktonic Gastrotricha

Autor(es)

Minowa, Axell K. ; Garraffoni, Andre R. S.

• Tipo de documento: Artigo Científico
• Fonte: Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution; v. 152, p. 13-pg., 2020-11-01.

Resumo

The Brazilian Atlantic forest is a tropical rainforest recognized as a hotspot of biodiversity, with high species richness and endemicity. This forest extends over a wide latitudinal range, bordering the entire Brazilian coastline, from sea level to high mountains over 2000 m.a.s.L., and presents a variety of environmental conditions and forest physiognomy. Despite many years of intense studies on animal biodiversity in the biome, there is a lack of information on meiofauna taxa causing several shortfalls in biodiversity knowledge of these tiny organisms. In this study, we address some of these shortfalls by describing a new species of Neogossea (Gastrotricha: Chaetonotida) from a lentic ecosystem in southeastern Brazil, surrounded by fragments of Atlantic Forest by using an integrative approach combining different morphological techniques and molecular data. We also point out new hypotheses of homologous structures due to scanning electron microscope observations of the new species. Additionally, we used two numerical methods to assess distribution patterns and historical regionalization of four freshwater meiofaunal taxa (Gastrotricha, Rotifera, Copepoda and Cladocera). For the first time, we accessed the areas of endemism in this biological hotspot based on aquatic fauna with a very peculiar life history. Due to sampling issues and meiofauna species being widespread, our results raise incongruences with previous endemism analyses on vertebrates and arthropods. Finally, we performed the first total-evidence phylogenetic analyses of benthic and semiplanktonic gastrotrichs based on 59 morphological characters and three molecular markers, employing a parsimony approach. The phylogenetic reconstruction supports the hypothesis of a single origin of semiplanktonic gastrotrichs, and both Dasydytidae and Neogosseidae families are monophyletic taxa as well as four non-monotypic genera. (AU)

• Processo FAPESP: 17/20312-8 - Análise cladística da família Dasydytidae (Gastrotricha: Chaetonotida) e contribuição para o aumento de sequências de gastrótricos no banco de dados genético GenBank
• Beneficiário: Axell Kou Minowa
• Modalidade de apoio: Bolsas no Brasil - Iniciação Científica
• Processo FAPESP: 19/01955-0 - Repensando a classificação da família Dasydytidae (Chaetonotida: Gastrotricha): taxonomia integrativa, tree thinking e evidência total
• Beneficiário: Axell Kou Minowa
• Modalidade de apoio: Bolsas no Brasil - Mestrado
• Processo FAPESP: 14/23856-0 - Reconstrução filogenética de Gastrotricha baseada em dados moleculares e morfológicos
• Beneficiário: André Rinaldo Senna Garraffoni
• Modalidade de apoio: Auxílio à Pesquisa - Programa BIOTA - Jovens Pesquisadores