Molecular and geologic evidence of shared history between hermit crabs and the symbiotic genus Hydractinia

The paleobiogeographic histories of three North Atlantic hermit crab lineages were compared with a single-copy DNA-DNA hybridization phylogeny of their symbiotic hydroid genus Hydractinia. Two vicariance events in the Quaternary are apparently responsible for existing range disjunctions of the host hermit crab lineages. The Hydractinia phylogeny revealed two distinct clades, one with a primarily northern, the other with a primarily southern distribution. In two of three cases, hydroids associated with closely related hermits on both sides of the range disjunction appear as sister taxa in the phylogeny. A linear scaling between a measure of hydroid sequence divergence and independent geologic estimates of the timing of the vicariant events believed to have established the hermit crab range disjunctions is consistent with the claim of temporal coincidence of cladogenic and vicariance events. Findings provide evidence for shared history of symbiotic associations in two of the three cases. -from Authors

Duke Scholars

Author Clifford W. Cunningham Biology