title: A good compromise: rapid and robust species proxies for inventorying biodiversity hotspots using the Terebridae (Gastropoda: Conoidea).
abstract: Devising a reproducible approach for species delimitation of hyperdiverse groups is an ongoing challenge in evolutionary biology. Speciation processes combine modes of passive and adaptive trait divergence requiring an integrative taxonomy approach to accurately generate robust species hypotheses. However, in light of the rapid decline of diversity on Earth, complete integrative approaches may not be practical in certain species-rich environments. As an alternative, we applied a two-step strategy combining ABGD (Automated Barcode Gap Discovery) and Klee diagrams, to balance speed and accuracy in producing primary species hypotheses (PSHs). Specifically, an ABGD/Klee approach was used for species delimitation in the Terebridae, a neurotoxin-producing marine snail family included in the Conoidea. Delimitation of species boundaries is problematic in the Conoidea, as traditional taxonomic approaches are hampered by the high levels of variation, convergence and morphological plasticity of shell characters. We used ABGD to analyze gaps in the distribution of pairwise distances of 454 COI sequences attributed to 87 morphospecies and obtained 98 to 125 Primary Species Hypotheses (PSHs). The PSH partitions were subsequently visualized as a Klee diagram color map, allowing easy detection of the incongruences that were further evaluated individually with two other species delimitation models, General Mixed Yule Coalescent (GMYC) and Poisson Tree Processes (PTP). GMYC and PTP results confirmed the presence of 17 putative cryptic terebrid species in our dataset. The consensus of GMYC, PTP, and ABGD/Klee findings suggest the combination of ABGD and Klee diagrams is an effective approach for rapidly proposing primary species proxies in hyperdiverse groups and a reliable first step for macroscopic biodiversity assessment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology and Biotechnology "C. Darwin", Sapienza University of Rome, Roma, Italy; Department of Chemistry, Hunter College, City University of New York, New York, New York, United States of America.
authors.forename: Maria Vittoria
authors.initials: MV
authors.lastname: Modica
authors.affiliation: Département Systématique et Evolution, "Systématique, Adaptation et Evolution", UMR 7138, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, CP 26, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Nicolas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Puillandre
authors.affiliation: Département Systématique et Evolution, "Systématique, Adaptation et Evolution", UMR 7138, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, CP 26, Paris, France; Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Pacific Biological Station, Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada; Department of Chemistry, Hunter College, City University of New York, New York, New York, United States of America.
authors.forename: Magalie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Castelin
authors.affiliation: Ernst & Young, New York, New York, United States of America.
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Hunter College, City University of New York, New York, New York, United States of America; Sackler Institute for Comparative Genomics, American Museum of Natural History, New York, New York, United States of America.
authors.forename: Mandë
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Holford
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D044822:Biodiversity; D058893:DNA Barcoding, Taxonomic; D010140:Pacific Ocean; D010802:Phylogeny; D012908:Snails / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics