Biogeography and Phylogeny of the Freshwater Crabs Based on Molecular and Morphological Evidence

Florida State University, Tallahassee FL

Investigators

Abstract

Freshwater crabs pose a number of interesting evolutionary and biogeographic questions. They represent one of the most speciose groups of crabs, but our understanding of their systematics and phylogenetic relationships is severely limited. Although speciose, they are similar in their morphology, their dependence on freshwater, and their unusual life history. Based on a few characteristics, freshwater crabs have long been assumed to be monophyletic. This view has been challenged, however, in light of their intriguing biogeographical distribution. This study will undertake the most comprehensive phylogenetic study of freshwater crabs to date by using both morphological and molecular data for all freshwater lineages and their putative marine relatives. Specifically, we propose to use morphological and molecular mitochondrial and nuclear DNA data to establish independently phylogenies for both freshwater and eubrachyuran marine crabs, to use these results to test monophyly of the groups, to estimate the time of origin of freshwater crabs, and to evaluate and revise the existing higher order classification of freshwater crabs.