title: Evidence for the persistence of the land planarian species Microplana terrestris (Müller, 1774) (Platyhelminthes, Tricladida) in microrefugia during the Last Glacial Maximum in the northern section of the Iberian Peninsula.
abstract: The land planarian species Microplana terrestris (Müller, 1774), shows a wide distribution in the north of the Iberian Peninsula, where mature humid forests can be found. Since most terrestrial planarians require the presence and good condition of wet forests to survive, a parallel evolution of the taxon and its habitat might be expected. Performing molecular analyses (mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I and nuclear ITS-1 genes) we estimated the demography and biogeographic history of the species in that region. Our results show the species to present levels of genetic diversity likely originating before the Pleistocene. However, it presents a genetic structure that presumably resulted from its survival in various refugees during the Pleistocene glacial cycles. The two main genetic groups, present on the Iberian Peninsula, seem to have different origins: the western one being of Iberian origin, while the eastern group may have been the result of a re-colonization from the north. In both cases, their biogeographical history mirrors their habitat range movements, reinforcing the phylogeographical hypothesis put forward for its preferred habitat, i.e. humid forests.
authors.affiliation: Departament de Genètica, Facultat de Biologia i Institut de Recerca de la Biodiversitat, Universitat de Barcelona, Avinguda Diagonal 643, E-08028 Barcelona, Spain. onaalvarez@ub.edu
authors.forename: Marta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Álvarez-Presas
authors.forename: Eduardo
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Mateos
authors.forename: Miquel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vila-Farré
authors.forename: Ronald
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sluys
authors.forename: Marta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Riutort
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000235:genetics; D021903:DNA, Ribosomal Spacer / Q000235:genetics; D017753:Ecosystem; D016013:Likelihood Functions; D010802:Phylogeny; D058974:Phylogeography; D010932:Planarians / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D013030:Spain
chemical_list: D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial; D021903:DNA, Ribosomal Spacer