Phylogeography of Ivory shell (Babylonia areolata) in the Gulf of Thailand revealed by COI gene structure and differentiation of shell color by ITS1 DNA

Babylonia areolata is an aquatic mollusk in the genus of the gastropod family Buccinidae. Genetic variations were observed in the 542 base pairs of the sequences from its cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI) gene of mtDNA. COI alignments showed that there were two monophyletic clades on the phylogenetic tree, referred as B. areolata. These results point towards the possibility of B. areolata being a single species with strong phylogeographic subdivisions. About 520 base pairs of the internal transcribed spacer 1 (ITS1) sequence were able to distinguish between the shell colors (brown, cream and white) of B. areolata.