Durjoy Raha Antu, Israt Jahan, Tasfia Tanjim Islam, Mysha Mahjabin, Sujan Kumar Datta, Sumaiya Ahmed, Md. Sagir Ahmed

Morphology and DNA barcoding reveal four new species of hermit crab (Crustacea: Decapoda: Anomura) for the fauna of Bangladesh

Abstract This study describes some morphometric and molecular aspects of four species of hermit crabs (Clibanarius clibanarius, Clibanarius padavensis, Clibanarius infraspinatus, and Diogenes rectimanus) reported for the first time from Bangladesh. A total of 15 COI sequences were generated for these four species. The average genetic distances found within species, genus, and family were 0.96 ± 0.02%, 22.80 ± 0.06%, and 25.13 ± 0.11%, respectively. For barcode gap analysis, the mean and maximum intra-specific values were compared to the nearest neighbour distance using the K2P model. The cluster sequence results revealed four OTUs. The phylogenetic tree based on the neighbor-joining (NJ) method showed a single cluster for each species. Thus, morphometric and molecular data confirmed the species identification. Based on the analysed material, we assume that there are many more species in the coastal areas of Bangladesh which could be discovered in future surveys.

Doi https://doi.org/10.35513/21658005.2024.2.8

Keywords Barcoding; COI; Hermit crab; Mangrove

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