MITOCHONDRIAL DNA AND MORPHOLOGICAL DIFFERENTIATION OF ALBINARIA POPULATIONS (GASTROPODA: CLAUSILIIDAE)

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Abstract
Albinaria, despite its restricted geographical distribution, exhibits an extreme degree of differentiation. The use of conventional or numerical taxonomy has not facilitated the understanding of evolution of the genus. Twelve populations belonging to four species were studied with a combined approach using mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and qualitative morphological data. The complete mtDNA genome of A. coerulea from Amorgos island was cloned and used in mtDNA restriction site analysis of the other populations. Maximum parsimony cladistic analysis of nine populations provided trees sharing the same basic topology. Certain restriction sites and morphological characters appear to be species specific, while incongruity is observed at the intraspecific level. Sequence divergence and the paleogeographic history of the area were used for construction of an evolutionary scenario and a rough estimation of the Albinaria mtDNA clock.

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