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The species flocks of lacustrine gastropods: Tylomelania on Sulawesi as models in speciation and adaptive radiation

  • SPECIATION IN ANCIENT LAKES
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Abstract

Endemic radiations provide splendid opportunities for studies in evolutionary biology. Species flocks in ancient lakes, such as in Tanganyika, Malawi or Baikal, have featured prominently in evolutionary biology, viewing these “evolutionary theatres” as hotspots of diversification. However, following a century of neglect, the endemic evolution of limnic cerithioidean gastropods in the two central lake systems on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi (i.e. Lake Poso and the lakes of the Malili system, e.g. Danau Matano, Mahalona and Towuti) also provide instructive model cases for the study of speciation mechanisms, adaptive radiation and annidation (i.e. niche exploitation). We here discuss the evolutionary and taxonomic implications of the lacustrine species flocks in Tylomelania from these lakes in Sulawesi as an exceptional endemic assemblage of morphologically distinct viviparous pachychilid gastropods. This first comprehensive compilation of data on both ancient lake systems, Poso and Malili, offers a new perspective on ecological differentiation in this radiation. Presented here within the framework of the theory of evolutionary ecology it provides a research program for acquiring a synthetical perspective that includes morphology, molecular genetics, ecology and biogeography. In this context, it will be possible to compare the species flocks of these truly “Darwinian snails” on Sulawesi with the long enigmatic, so-called thalassoid (i.e. marine-like) gastropod radiation in East African’s Lake Tanganyika.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the editors for inviting us to present our findings not only during the 2006 SIAL meeting held in Berlin, but also for contributing this review to the special issue. Christian Albrecht and George Davis as reviewers and Tom Wilke provided constructive comments helping to improve the manuscript. We are most grateful to Kristina von Rintelen (Berlin) for her immense help both during the recent field campaigns and in analyzing data. Ristiyanti Marwoto (Zoological Museum Bogor) was very helpful in the preparation of the fieldwork in Indonesia and A. Munandar provided assistance in the field. We thank LIPI for permits to conduct research in Indonesia. We are most indebted to INCO for its invaluable logistic support at the lakes during our many visits. This work was funded by research grants GL 297/1 and GL 297/7 awarded to M. G. from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft.

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  1. Museum für Naturkunde, Humboldt University Berlin, Invalidenstraße 43, 10115, Berlin, Germany

    Matthias Glaubrecht & Thomas von Rintelen

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  1. Matthias Glaubrecht
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  2. Thomas von Rintelen
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Correspondence to Matthias Glaubrecht.

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Guest editors: T. Wilke, R. Väinölä & F. Riedel

Patterns and Processes of Speciation in Ancient Lakes: Proceedings of the Fourth Symposium on Speciation in Ancient Lakes, Berlin, Germany, September 4–8, 2006

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Glaubrecht, M., von Rintelen, T. The species flocks of lacustrine gastropods: Tylomelania on Sulawesi as models in speciation and adaptive radiation. Hydrobiologia 615, 181–199 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-008-9568-9

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