Molecular analysis of Muticaria syracusana and M. neuteboomi from Southeastern Sicily, Italy (Gastropoda, Pulmonata, Clausiliidae)

The genus Muticaria Lindholm, 1925, is currently distributed either in Southeastern Sicily or in the Malteseislands and comprises the species M. syracusana (Philippi, 1836), M. neuteboomi Beckmann, 1990 and M.macrostoma (Cantraine, 1835). For the first time, we report a molecular study on the topotypicous populationsof M. syracusana and M. neuteboomi carried out on fragments of the ribosomal 16S rDNA subunit and thecytochrome oxydase I (COI) mitochondrial genes by Neighbour Joining, Maximum Likelihood, MaximumParsimony and Bayesian Inference algorithms. Our results revealed the existence of nucleotide-sequencedivergence (Dxy: 5% for 16S rDNA and 12% for COI sequences) between the two taxa.