DNA barcodes reliably differentiate between nivicolous species of Diderma (Myxomycetes, Amoebozoa) and reveal regional differences within Eurasia.

ABSTRACT

The nivicolous species of the genus Diderma are challenging to identify, and there are several competing views on their delimitation. We analyzed 102 accessions of nivicolous Diderma spp. that were sequenced for two or three unlinked genes to determine which of the current taxonomic treatments is better supported by molecular species delimitation methods. The results of a haplotype web analysis, Bayesian species delimitation under a multispecies coalescent model, and phylogenetic analyses on concatenated alignments support a splitting approach that distinguishes six taxa Diderma alpinum, D. europaeum, D. kamchaticum, D. meyerae, D. microcarpum and D. niveum. The first two approaches also support the separation of Diderma alpinum into two species with allopatric distribution. An extended dataset of 800 specimens (mainly from Europe) that were barcoded with 18S rDNA revealed only barcode variants similar to those in the species characterized by the first data set, and showed an uneven distribution of these species in the Northern Hemisphere Diderma microcarpum and D. alpinum were the only species found in all seven intensively sampled mountain regions. Partial 18S rDNA sequences serving as DNA barcodes provided clear signatures that allowed for unambiguous identification of the nivicolous Diderma spp., including two putative species in D. alpinum.