Molecular Phylogeny and Estimated Time of Divergence in the Central European Melanopsidae: Melanopsis, Fagotia and Holandriana (Mollusca: Gastropoda: Cerithioidea)

Three European melanopsids: Melanopsis parreyssii (Philippi, 1847) from Ochiul Mare (Romania), Fagotia acicularis (A. Férussac, 1828) from a spring near Crisul Negru (Romania), and Holandriana holandri (C. Pfeiffer, 1828) from Lake Skutari (Montenegro), as well as Melanopsis costata Oliver, 1804 from Iraq, are considered is this paper. Eight partial sequences of ribosomal 18S, and seven of mitochondrial COI were analysed. Maximum likelihood trees based on 18S confirm the placement of the Melanopsidae within the Cerithioidea, as well as the monophyly of the latter group. The COI-based tree confirms the placement of the Melanopsidae within the Cerithioidea, but does not confirm the monophyly of either Melanopsidae or Cerithioidea. The results suggest that Fagotia should be synonymised with Melanopsis, Holandriana is a distinct genus, and Melanopsis costata is not congeneric with M. parreyssii. The application of molecular clock, with one point calibration for COI for the Hydrobiidae, estimated the times of divergence as 2.53±0.56 Mya for M. parreyssii and F. acicularis, 9.49±1.67 Mya for M. parreyssii and H. holandri, and 10.71±1.88 Mya for F. acicularis and H. holandrii. 2.5 Mya coincides with the beginning of the glacial period in Europe, and 8-12 Mya was the time when Lake Pannon covered the largest area.