An insight into the evolutionary history of Indoplanorbis exustus (Bulinidae: Gastropoda)at the scale of population and species

Abstract

The history of a lineage is intertwined with the history of the landscape it resides in. Here we showcase how the geo-tectonic and climatic evolution in South Asia and surrounding landmasses have shaped the biogeographic history of Indoplanorbis exustus, a tropical Asian, freshwater, pulmonated snail. We amplified partial COI gene fragment from all over India and combined this with a larger dataset from South and Southeast Asia to carry out phylogenetic reconstruction, species delimitation analysis, and population genetic analyses. Two nuclear genes were also amplified from one individual per putative species to carry out divergence dating and ancestral area reconstruction analyses. The results suggest that Indoplanorbis dispersed out of Africa into India during Eocene. Furthermore, molecular data suggests Indoplanorbis is a species complex consisting of multiple putative species. The primary diversification took place in Northern Indian plains or the Northeast India. The speciation events appear to be primarily allopatric caused by a series of aridification events starting from late Miocene to early Pleistocene. None of the species seemed to have any underlying genetic structure suggestive of high vagility. All the species underwent population fluctuations during the Pleistocene likely driven by the Quaternary climatic fluctuations.