Morphological and Molecular-Genetic Polymorphism of Canthocamptus staphylinus Jurine (Harpacticoida, Copepoda, Crustacea)

Abstract

External morphological and genetic structures of 94 individuals of Canthocamptus staphylinus Jurine (Harpacticoida, Copepoda, Crustacea) from ten European water bodies differing in type, including species type locality, have been analyzed. Significant distinctions of populations on six morphological features and morphometric indexes are established. The variability of both morphological and genetic markers is noted. As a result, two main species morph forms are allocated, typical and small. According to nucleotide, the variety of mitochondrial DNA harpacticoid specimens falls into ten haplotypes and three clades on the phylogenetic tree. One of them corresponds with the group isolated on morphological features (harpacticoids from the Sysola River basin, Komi Republic). The same-sex population from Lake Pääjärvi (Finland), which is morphologically indistinguishable from the population from a type locality, is considerably divergent by nucleotide sequences of mtDNA. The role of geographical isolation and ecological factors in C. staphylinus microevolution is shown.