Variabilidade conquiliológica, anatômica e molecular em Subulina octona (Brugüière, 1789) (Mollusca, Gastropoda, Subulinidae)

Abstract

Current knowledge of the diversity of terrestrial molluscs does not take into account the intraand interspecific variability, particularly with regard to species from tropical climates, as is the case of Subulina octona. The association between morphometric and molecular analysis, which remain unpublished for studies in S. octona, has allowed the identification of taxa and understanding of their relationships. In the present study, we observed variability in the shell, reproductive system, body color and molecular structure based on COI of mitochondrial DNA between populations of S. octona. Morphometric analysis along development showed that within-population variability decreased during the development of molluscs and was higher in populations with two body color phenotypes. The best component to explain the variability in most of lifetime was the shell length, followed by the opening width. Because the geographic distance does not explain the variation in shell shape, we believe that there may be considerable gene flow favored by human activities and that the selection may be shaping the morphometric patterns in this species. The interpopulation variation in growth patterns and shell shape in adulthood, even under identical rearing conditions, shows the important role of genetic determination. The anatomy of reproductive system was similar between populations, but the morphology was variable between individuals and populations. Within populations, the male portion of the reproductive system was more variable than the female portion, as expected for structures that are under sexual selection. Among populations, the largest difference was observed in the female portion. The reproductive system was more variable than the shell, but showed interpopulation compatibility for the shape of structures. Morphometric and body color phenotypic differentiation were not corroborated by molecular variation since individuals with the same COI haplotype were variable to shell shape and color head-foot mass. The neutral evolution model of sequences has been accepted for the samples analyzed even though not all mutations are silent, highlighting the role of drift in the species evolution. The low variability of some populations may reflect the strong inbreeding due to low dispersal ability and capacity of selfing species, in spite of gene flow via passive dispersal by human activities. We observed a genetic structure of populations, because it presents a unique haplotype and form a distinct lineage in the maximum likelihood dendrograma. Different lineages showed morphometric differences in reproductive structures, which show their independent evolution. These observations must be investigated in more detail to confirm the existence of cryptic species. The analysis of the diversity found in this study also provided grants for further research aimed at shedding light on the origin of S. octona.