2001/11/01 by Andrzej Falniowski, Thomas Wilke · 5 citations
Environmental Science · Agricultural and Biological Sciences · #Aquatic Invertebrate Ecology and Behavior #Parasite Biology and Host Interactions #Mollusks and Parasites Studies
paper · pdf · doi:10.1093/mollus/67.4.483
openalex publication_date 2001/11/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
Marstoniopsis scholtzi (A. Schmidt, 1856) and M. insubrica (Küster, 1853), have been commonly accepted as distinct species, partly because of their allopatric distribution patterns, but there appear to be no morphological differences between them. Also the phylogenetic relationships of the genus Marstoniopsis van Regteren Altena, 1936 remain enigmatic. In the present study the authors sequenced a fragment of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I gene in representatives of three populations of M. scholtzi and one population of M. insubrica to access the degree of genetic differentiation between those taxa. A phylogenetic analysis was performed with representatives of the families Hydrobiidae, Amnicolidae and Cochliopidae in order to test the taxonomic position of Marstoniopsis. The specimens from the three populations of Marstoniopsis scholtzi differ from each other in only one or two observed substitutions in 638 bp (= 0.152-0.304%). Each one of them also differs from the specimen of M. insubrica in one or two observed substitutions (= 0.152-0.304%). Based on the extremely low genetic divergence and the lack of morphological differentiation we consider all populations to belong to one species, Marstoniopsis insubrica. Maximum likelihood analysis places the genus Marstoniopsis in the family Amnicolidae, close to the genera Erhaia and Amnicola.