Journal article

Publication year: 2015

Journal: Biology Letters

Volume number: 11

Issue number: 7

ISSN: 1744-9561

Open access status: Green

DOI Link: https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2015.0321

Publisher: The Royal Society

Abstract: 
Lake Baikal is the deepest, oldest and most speciose ancient lake in the world. The lake is characterized by high levels of molluscan species richness and endemicity, including the limpet family Acroloxidae with 25 endemic species. Members of this group generally inhabit the littoral zone, but have been recently found in the abyssal zone at hydrothermal vents and oil-seeps. Here, we use mitochondrial and nuclear data to provide a first molecular phylogeny of the Lake Baikal limpet radiation, and to date the beginning of intra-lacustrine diversification. Divergence time estimates suggest a considerably younger age for the species flock compared with lake age estimates, and the beginning of extensive diversification is possibly related to rapid deepening and cooling during rifting. Phylogenetic relationships and divergence time estimates do not clearly indicate when exactly the abyssal was colonized but suggest a timeframe coincident with the formation of the abyssal in the northern basin (Middle to Late Pleistocene).

Harvard Citation style: Stelbrink, B., Shirokaya, A., Clewing, C., Sitnikova, T., Prozorova, L. and Albrecht, C. (2015) Conquest of the deep, old and cold: an exceptional limpet radiation in Lake Baikal, Biology Letters, 11(7). https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2015.0321

APA Citation style: Stelbrink, B., Shirokaya, A., Clewing, C., Sitnikova, T., Prozorova, L., & Albrecht, C. (2015). Conquest of the deep, old and cold: an exceptional limpet radiation in Lake Baikal. Biology Letters. 11(7). https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2015.0321