Phylogeography of a marine insular endemic in the Atlantic Macaronesia : the Azorean barnacle, Megabalanus azoricus (Pilsbry,1916)

[EN]The Azorean barnacle, Megabalanus azoricus (Pilsbry, 1916), is a Macaronesian endemic whose obscure taxonomy and the unknown relationships among forms inhabiting isolated Northern Atlantic oceanic islands is investigated by means of molecular analysis herein. Mitochondrial data from the 16S rRNA and COX1 genes support its current species status, tropical ancestry, and the taxonomic homogeneity throughout its distribution range. In contrast, at the intraspecific level and based on control region sequences, we detected an overall low level of genetic diversity and three divergent lineages. The haplogroups α and γ were sampled in the Azores, Madeira, Canary, and Cabo Verde archipelagos; whereas haplogroup β was absent from Cabo Verde

Morphological and molecular characterization of a new species of Atlantic stalked barnacle (Scalpelliformes: Pollicipedidae) from the Cape Verde Islands

[EN] The taxonomy of pedunculate cirripedes belonging to the genus Pollicipes has essentially remained unchanged since Charles Darwin described them in his exhaustive work on the Cirripedia. This genus includes three species of stalked barnacles: Pollicipes pollicipes in the north-eastern Atlantic, P. polymerus in the north-eastern Pacific and P. elegans in the central-eastern Pacific. However, a population genetics analysis of P. pollicipes suggested the presence of a putative cryptic species collected from the Cape Verde Islands in the central-eastern Atlantic. This study examines the morphology of these genetically divergent specimens and compares them with that of representative Atlantic samples of the biogeographically closely related P. pollicipes and with the poorly described P. elegans.