Abstract
Systematic study of two freshwater turtle families (Geoemydidae and Trionychidae), from Northern and Southern India, was carried out through the sequence analysis of partial mitochondrial cytochrome b gene. Sequences from 125 individuals from nine species were generated and analyzed. Forty one mitochondrial haplotypes were found and Maximum parsimony (MP) and neighbour-joining tree (NJ) produced similar, well-resolved trees. There were two major clades, differentiating freshwater hard and softshell turtles. The hard shell turtle, Hardella thurjii thurjii, Batugar kachuga and Kachuga tecta were observed as a paraphyletic group and soft shell turtles, Nillsonia gangetica and N. hurum were observed as a monophyletic group. Overall species divergence was 14.3%. The sequences of Lissemys punctata obtained from NCBI were analyzed along with that of present study. From the sequences generated in present study, a total of fourteen haplotypes was observed in L. punctata (n = 68) and thirty haplotypes combined with NCBI sequences. From a total of 108 sequences of L. punctata, AMOVA analysis detected significant divergence within the species among groups (79.39%) and overall Fst of 0.908. Four distinct populations were found according to the geographical location, from Northern, Southern and Central India and one more clade adjacent to Central India, which could be a distinct population of L. punctata vittata from Central Western India. This divergent clade in the present study contained individuals from Central Western India (Karnataka and Goa) and indicates that it may be a cryptic species. The present study provides a significant contribution regarding the confirmation of taxonomic identity of geographically isolated populations of the species, which might be useful for the conservation and management of the Indian freshwater turtle populations.
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