Nv. Schizas et al., Molecular population structure of the marine benthic copepod Microarthridion littorale along the southeastern and Gulf coasts of the USA, MARINE BIOL, 135(3), 1999, pp. 399-405
Relationships among populations (southeast Atlantic and northern Gulf coast
, USA) of a ubiquitous, estuarine, harpacticoid copepod (Microarthridion li
ttorale Poppe) were estimated using sequence data from two loci: one mitoch
ondrial [cytochrome b (Cyt b)] and one nuclear [first internal transcribed
spacer of ribosomal DNA (ITS-1)]. Copepods were collected from seven estuar
ies in 1997/98. Allelic phylogenies based on both genes were generally conc
ordant, and suggested that M. littorale populations are structured over lar
ge geographic scales (hundreds of kilometers). Three well-supported groups
were found in both gene trees comprising clades of alleles sampled from Sou
th Carolina, Florida, and Louisiana. Alleles from the Savannah, Georgia sam
ple formed a monophyletic group using the Cyt b data, but this clade was no
t distinguishable with comparable ITS-1 data. A single specimen from Louisi
ana was classified in different clades depending on the locus assayed.