Species diversity of Onchidiidae (Eupulmonata: Heterobranchia) on the mainland of China based on molecular data

Abstract

The identification of members of the Onchidiidae is based on morphological characters; this is often time-consuming and can be inconclusive. In order to explore the species diversity of onchidiids in China, we provide a phylogeny constructed using partial sequences of two mitochondrial genes (16S rRNA and COI) and one nuclear ribosomal RNA gene (28S rRNA) from 32 samples comprising five genera. The topology, using both Bayesian and Maximum Likelihood inference methods, showed that the taxa clustered in two main groups of six species, one of which included Platevindex mortoni, Platevindex sp. and Onchidium ‘struma’; the other included Paraoncidium reevesii, Onchidella sp. and Peronia verruculata. It is clear that COI will be useful in discriminating onchidiid species-group taxa.