Coevolutionary Implications of Obligate Commensalism in Sea Turtles: the Case of the Genus Hyachelia Barnard, 1967 (Crustacea, Amphipoda)
Tammy Iwasa-Arai*,
Sónia C.S. Andrade,
Camila Miguel,
Silvana G.L. Siqueira,
Max Rondon Werneck,
Fosca P.P. Leite,
Lara Moraes,
Marcelo Renan D. Santos,
Luciana S. Medeiros,
Uylia H. Lopes,
Cristiana Serejo
Tammy Iwasa-Arai
Programa de Pós-Graduação em Biologia Animal, Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil
Departamento de Biologia Animal, Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Campinas 13083-970, SP, Brazil
Departamento de Genética e Biologia Evolutiva, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo 05508-090, SP, Brazil.
Sónia C.S. Andrade
Departamento de Genética e Biologia Evolutiva, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo 05508-090, SP, Brazil.
Camila Miguel
Projeto Chelonia mydas - Instituto Marcos Daniel, R. José Alexandre Buaiz, 190 - Sala 1713 - Enseada do Suá, Vitória, 29050-545, ES, Brazil.
Silvana G.L. Siqueira
Departamento de Biologia Animal, Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Campinas 13083-970, SP, Brazil.
Max Rondon Werneck
Instituto BW para Conservação e Medicina da Fauna Marinha. Araruama, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Fosca P.P. Leite
Departamento de Biologia Animal, Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Campinas 13083-970, SP, Brazil.
Lara Moraes
Departamento de Genética e Biologia Evolutiva, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo 05508-090, SP, Brazil.
Marcelo Renan D. Santos
Projeto Chelonia mydas - Instituto Marcos Daniel, R. José Alexandre Buaiz, 190 - Sala 1713 - Enseada do Suá, Vitória, 29050-545, ES, Brazil.
Luciana S. Medeiros
Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciência Animal, Universidade Federal de Alagoas (UFAL). Viçosa, 57700-970, AL, Brazil
Instituto Biota de Conservação, Maceió, 57038-770, AL, Brazil.
Uylia H. Lopes
Instituto Biota de Conservação, Maceió, 57038-770, AL, Brazil.
Cristiana Serejo
Laboratório de Carcinologia, Departamento de Invertebrados, Museu Nacional/UFRJ, Rio de Janeiro, 20940-040, RJ, Brazil.
Communicated by Ryuji Machida
Obligate commensalism in the marine environment and its evolutionary role are still poorly understood. Although sea turtles may serve as ideal substrates for epibionts, within amphipods, only the genus Hyachelia evolved in obligate commensalism with turtles. Here, we report a new host record for Hyachelia lowryi on the hawksbill turtle and describe a larger distribution of the genus in the Atlantic Ocean on green and loggerhead turtles. Hyachelia spp. were sampled from nesting sites of Caretta caretta and feeding grounds of Eretmochelys imbricata and Chelonia mydas along the Brazilian coast. Insights regarding the coevolution of this remarkable genus with its hosts based on molecular analyses are inferred based on mitochondrial (COI) and nuclear (18SrRNA) genes using new and previously available sequences from the infraorder Talitrida. Divergence times for Hyachelia are around the Cretaceous (~127.66 Mya), corresponding to an ancient origin and in agreement with modern green turtle (Chelonioidea) radiation. Later, diversification of Hyachelia species is dated at about 26 Mya, suggesting a coevolutionary association between amphipods and Carettini/Chelonini sea turtles.
Supplementary materials
Maximum likelihood tree of
COI+18SrRNA of Hyalidae and outgroups Ampithoidae, Caprellidae, Crangonyctidae, Gammaridae, Hyalellidae and Talitridae. Numbers above branches correspond to bootstrap values above 80%.
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Species used in the phylogenetic analyses and accession numbers.
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