Document type
ArticleVersion
Accepted versionPublication date
All rights reserved
Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/2445/194261
Dugesia hepta and Dugesia benazzii (Platyhelminthes: Tricladida): two sympatric species with occasional sex?
Journal Title
Director/Tutor
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Related resource
Abstract
Dugesia hepta Pala, Casu & Vacca, 1981 and Dugesia benazzii Lepori, 1951 are two freshwater planarian species from the islands of Corsica and Sardinia. Dugesia hepta is endemic of Sardinia and distributed in four northern hydrographic basins where it co-occurs with D. benazzii, which has a wider Tyrrhenian distribution. Although these species have been broadly studied¿especially D. benazzii¿as regards to their variety of reproductive patterns as well as for their karyological diversity, little is known about them from a molecular phylogenetic perspective. For the first time, we present a molecular phylogenetic tree of the two species and their populations based on two molecular markers¿one mitochondrial, Cox1, and one nuclear, Dunuc12. Our results not only confirm that both species are molecularly distinct but also show that D. benazzii's Corsican and Sardinian populations could belong to separate species. Furthermore, we present the first demonstration of a natural hybridization between different species in the genus Dugesia on the basis of molecular data.
Subject (English)
Citation
Citation
DOLS-SERRATE, Daniel, et al. Dugesia hepta and Dugesia benazzii (Platyhelminthes: Tricladida): two sympatric species with occasional sex?. Organisms Diversity & Evolution. 2020. Vol. 20, num. 369-386. ISSN 1439-6092. [consulted: 8 of August of 2026]. Available at: https://hdl.handle.net/2445/194261