Speciation on the Azores islands: congruent patterns in shell morphology, genital anatomy, and molecular markers in endemic land snails (Gastropoda, Leptaxinae) |
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Authors: | KURT JORDAENS PATRICK VAN RIEL ANTONIO M FRIAS MARTINS THIERRY BACKELJAU |
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Institution: | Department of Biology, University of Antwerp, Groenenborgerlaan 171, B-2020 Antwerp, Belgium; Departemento de Biologia, Universidade dos Açores, Rua de Mãe de Deus, 9501-801 Ponta Delgada, São Miguel, Açores, Portugal; Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Vautierstraat 29, B-1000 Brussels, Belgium |
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Abstract: | Morphological data, in combination with molecular data, may provide invaluable insights into speciation processes on archipelagos. Land snails offer ample opportunities to evalutate adaptive and non-adaptive speciation scenarios. However, studies investigating processes of differentiation and speciation on the Azores are scarce. The present study comprises a morphometrical analysis of shell and genital characters in a group of Azorean land snails (Pulmonata, Leptaxinae). Geographical isolation appears to be an important mechanism underlying morphological and molecular differentiation in the Azorean Leptaxini, instead of adaptive radiation through ecological differentiation. Nevertheless, we could not exclude the occurrence of ecological speciation on the oldest island (Santa Maria) where two species that markedly differ in shell-shape co-occur. © 2009 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society , 2009, 97 , 166–176. |
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Keywords: | colonization endemism Hygromiidae island biogeography Macaronesia morphometry multivariate analyses radiation reproductive organs |
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