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Vol. 53, 2014
Invasive lumbricid earthworms of Kamchatka (Oligochaeta)
Sergei
V Shekhovtsov1*, Elena V Golovanova2 and Sergei E
Peltek1
1Laboratory
of Molecular Biotechnology, Institute of Cytology and Genetics SB RAS,
Novosibirsk 630099, Russia
2Omsk State Pedagogical University, Naberezhnaya
Tukhachevskogo 14, Omsk 644099, Russia
Abstract
Background: Invasive earthworms
often have huge ecological impact, especially when they colonize
previously earthworm-free zones. Kamchatka is a remote and weakly
populated region whose invertebrate fauna is insufficiently studied. We
investigated earthworm diversity in several natural and anthropogenic
habitats of Kamchatka by morphological analysis and barcoding using the
mitochondrial cox1 gene.
Results: We added four new species (Dendrobaena octaedra, Dendrobaena attemsi, Lumbricus rubellus, and Aporrectodea caliginosa) and one subspecies (Dendrodrilus rubidus subrubicundus) to the four
earthworm species known previously from this region. Moreover, this is
the first report of Dendrobaena
attemsi in Asia. We
found one mtDNA haplotype for each Eisenia
fetida, Dendrodrilus rubidus subrubicundus, and Dendrodrilus rubidus tenuis; two significantly diverged
haplotypes for Dendrobaena octaedra and A. caliginosa; and three for L. rubellus. In addition, cox1 sequences of Eisenia nordenskioldi nordenskioldi, the only earthworm
species that could be of native origin, were identical to those of Eisenia nordenskioldi pallida from Khakassia and Tuva.
Conclusions: Molecular genetic
analysis demonstrated that all earthworms found by us are of invasive
origin, and for some of them, there were most probably several
independent introduction events. This turned out to be true even for E. nordenskioldi, the species that
was earlier considered to be native to this region. Our results suggest
it might be possible that the whole earthworm fauna of Kamchatka is of
invasive origin, which makes it a good model for studying the effects
of earthworm invasions into previously earthworm-free regions.
Key words: Earthworms; Lumbricidae; Kamchatka;
cox1.
*Correspondence: E-mail: shekhovtsov@bionet.nsc.ru
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