Abstract
ABSTRACTLittorina Férussac, 1822 is an abundant genus of small gastropods found in the upper littoral zone of rocky seashores worldwide. Although ecologically important, shell-based species identification in this genus is challenging due to phenotypic variation in shell morphology and lack of diagnostic characters among morphologically similar species. In this study, we revised the taxonomy of Korean Littorina species using morphological characters (shell and radula) and cox1 mitochondrial DNA sequences for three Korean species: L. brevicula, L. sitkana, and L. horikawai. Results suggest that L. sitkana was erroneously reported as L. kasatka in a previous study. A new record for Littorina horikawai (Matsubayashi & Habe in Habe, 1979), previously unknown from Korea, is described, which can be distinguished from L. sitkana by the presence of alternating white and brown spiral ribs on each whorl. Comparison of the mtDNA cox1 gene sequences shows very low intraspecific variation even between geographically distant populations. A phylogenetic tree supports a close relationship between L. horikawai and L. sitkana, consistent with earlier phylogenetic studies.
Highlights
The family Littorinidae include nearly 180 species from 13 genera worldwide, including 11 species from 6 genera in Korea (Lee and Min 2002; Min et al 2004; Lee and Kil 2013; this study)
Shell and radula morphology of the three Korean Littorina species are illustrated in Figures 1 and 2
Littorina species are difficult to distinguish based on shell morphology alone
Summary
The family Littorinidae include nearly 180 species from 13 genera worldwide, including 11 species from 6 genera in Korea (Lee and Min 2002; Min et al 2004; Lee and Kil 2013; this study) Within this family, members of the genus Littorina Férussac, 1822 (commonly known as periwinkles) are among the most abundant gastropods in the upper littoral zones of rocky seashores throughout the temperate region of the northern hemisphere. Members of the genus Littorina Férussac, 1822 (commonly known as periwinkles) are among the most abundant gastropods in the upper littoral zones of rocky seashores throughout the temperate region of the northern hemisphere They comprise 18 species worldwide (Reid et al 1996; 2012) and have been used as models in evolutionary ecology (RolanAlverez et al 2015) and as pollution biomonitors (Kang et al 2000; Noventa and Pavoni 2011). Mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (cox1) gene sequences were determined for L. brevicula, L. sitkana and L. horikawai and used for molecular identification
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