Abstract
Species with small geographic ranges do not tend to have a high genetic structure, but some land snail species seem to be an exception. Xerocrassa montserratensis, an endangered land snail endemic to Catalonia (northeastern Iberian Peninsula), is an excellent model to study the processes affecting the phylogeography of specialized species of conservation concern. This species is restricted to xerophilous stony slopes and occurs within a small and fragmented area of ca. 500 km2. We sequenced the COI barcode region of 152 individuals from eight sites covering the entire range of the species. We found four genetic groups mostly coincident with their geographic distribution: a central ancestral group containing shared haplotypes among five localities and three groups restricted to a single locality each. Two of these derived groups were geographically and genetically isolated, while the third and most differentiated group was not geographically isolated. Geomorphologic and paleoclimatic processes during the Pleistocene can explain the divergence found between populations of this low dispersal species with historical fragmentation and secondary contacts. Nonetheless, recent passive large dispersal through streams was also detected in the central group. Overall, our study uncovered four evolutionary units, partially matching morphologically described subspecies, which should be considered in future conservation actions.
Highlights
Species with small geographic ranges do not tend to have a high genetic structure, but some land snail species seem to be an exception
Few genetic studies focused on European Mediterranean land snails, this group is composed by ca. 2700 species with a high rate of endemism and evolutionary diversification[4]
High endemism is observed in the mainland, as exemplified by Xerocrassa montserratensis, a species restricted to the north-eastern part of the Iberian Peninsula with a small geographic distribution (< 3600 km2) and an area of occupancy of 448 k m219, fragmented in several isolated p atches[20]
Summary
Species with small geographic ranges do not tend to have a high genetic structure, but some land snail species seem to be an exception. Xerocrassa montserratensis, an endangered land snail endemic to Catalonia (northeastern Iberian Peninsula), is an excellent model to study the processes affecting the phylogeography of specialized species of conservation concern This species is restricted to xerophilous stony slopes and occurs within a small and fragmented area of ca. High endemism is observed in the mainland, as exemplified by Xerocrassa montserratensis, a species restricted to the north-eastern part of the Iberian Peninsula with a small geographic distribution (< 3600 km2) and an area of occupancy of 448 k m219, fragmented in several isolated p atches[20] This snail shows a high habitat specialization, living almost exclusively in mountain xerophilous bare stony slopes of conglomerate lithology with narrow soil. A recent study that analysed characters of the shell and anatomical traits of the reproductive organs in individuals from the different areas failed to identify morphological differences in the traits historically used to discriminate among the three s ubspecies[20]
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