Biogeography at the Sundaland-Wallacea interface: testing hypotheses with freshwater shrimps
Final Report Abstract
The globally distributed Atyidae (Crustacea, Decapoda) are the largest group of freshwater shrimps. The most comprehensive phylogeny of the group based on three genes suggests that previous concepts of atyid systematics and taxonomy need to be revised considerably, both at the family level and below. A molecular clock analysis based on various combinations of three fossil-based calibrations dates yielded large differences between divergence estimates for the origin of atyids ranging from the early Carboniferous to the early Cretaceous, suggesting that the calibration dates are not compatible with each other. Nevertheless, atyids are certainly an ancient freshwater group. Large scale distributions of atyids at the generic level and above are limited by ocean boundaries, reflecting the high dispersal potential of those atyid taxa with a high number of small eggs and amphidromous larvae. Atyids have radiated primarily in the Indo-Pacific. In all major lineages of atyids, landlocked clades comprising genera or species with a low number of large eggs with direct larval development and a complete freshwater life cycle have arisen independently. Multiple cave invasions have also occurred in in all major clades of atyid freshwater shrimps except one. The frequent independent evolution of a complete freshwater life cycle and cave dwelling on all continents suggests that the transition to these conditions is developmentally easy. The first comprehensive molecular phylogeny of the largest atyid genus, Caridina, with c. 250 species, based on mitochondrial genes, showed that a diadromous life-cycle is the plesiomorphic state of Caridina and allied genera, from which land-locked species or clades evolved frequently independently, several times also in the same geographic region, e.g. on the SE Asian mainland or on single islands such as Sulawesi in Indonesia. A preliminary molecular clock analysis indicated that dispersal across marine barriers has most likely been involved in most colonization events within insular SE Asia by land-locked lineages, as crucial vicariance events such as the opening of Makassar Strait between Borneo and Sulawesi predate the relevant phylogenetic splits in Caridina. On Sulawesi, Caridina has extensively radiated in the two ancient lake systems of the island. Data obtained in this project show that the species flocks in the ancient lakes have their origin in three independent colonizations by Caridina from rivers. The five lakes of the Malili lakes, the largest ancient lake system of Sulawesi, were colonized twice, one colonization being followed by adaptive radiation through the evolution of habitat specialization. The pattern of habitat and trophic specialization observed in Caridina closely resembles that found in other species flocks of crabs, snails, and fishes.
Publications
- (2010). Adaptive radiation and ecological diversification of Sulawesi’s ancient lake shrimps. Evolution 64: 3284-3299
von Rintelen, K., Glaubrecht, M., Schubart, C.D., Wessel, A. & von Rintelen, T.
- (2010). On two small collections of freshwater shrimps (Decapoda: Atyidae: Caridina) from Papua New Guinea, with descriptions of two new species. Zootaxa 2372: 138-150
Karge, A., von Rintelen, K. & Klotz, W.
- (2011). Biogeography of the Indo-Australian Archipelago. Annual Reviews in Evolution, Ecology and Systematics 42: 205-226
Lohman, D.J., de Bruyn, M., Page, T., von Rintelen, K., Hall, R., Ng, P.K.L., Shih, H.T., Carvalho, G.R. & von Rintelen, T.
- (2011). Intraspecific geographic differentiation and patterns of endemism in freshwater shrimp species flocks in ancient lakes of Sulawesi. In: Phylogeography and Population Genetics in Crustacea (Held, C., Koenemann, S. & Schubart, C.D., eds), pp. 257-271. Springer, Berlin
von Rintelen, K.
- (2012). Drawn to the dark side: a molecular phylogeny of freshwater shrimps (Crustacea: Decapoda: Caridea: Atyidae) reveals frequent cave invasions and challenges current taxonomic hypotheses. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 63: 82-96
von Rintelen, K., Page, T.J., Cai, Y., Roe, K., Stelbrink, B., Kuhajda, B.R., Iliffe, T.M., Hughes, J. & von Rintelen, T.
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2011.12.015) - (2012). Molecular biogeography and phylogeography of the freshwater fauna of the Indo-Australian Archipelago. In: Biotic evolution and environmental change in southeast Asia (Gower, D.J., Johnson, K.G., Richardson, J.E., Rosen, B.R., Rüber, L. & Williams, S.T., eds.). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 316-347
de Bruyn, M., von Rintelen, T., von Rintelen, K., Mather, P.B. & Carvalho, G.R.
- (2013). Three new species of Caridina (Decapoda: Atyidae) from Central Sulawesi and Buton Island, Indonesia, and a checklist of the islands’ endemic species. Zootaxa 3664: 554-570
Klotz, W. & von Rintelen, K.
(See online at https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3664.4.8) - (2013). Time and space in biogeography: response to Parenti & Ebach (2013). Journal of Biogeography 40: 2204-2206
de Bruyn, M., Stelbrink, B., Page, T.J., Philips, M.J., Lohman, D.J., Albrecht, C., Hall, R., von Rintelen, K., Ng, P.K.L., Shih, H.T., Carvalho, G.R. & von Rintelen, T.
