RESEARCH INTO THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE GENUS BATHYPOREIA (CRUSTACEA, AMPHIPODA) BY MEANS OF MOLECULAR MARKERS

The taxonomic identification of amphipods is complex and often a great expertise is required to get to the right species identification (Costa et al., 2004). A lot of recent studies, using molecular techniques, have highlighted that biodiversity can be strongly underestimated when based only on morphological identification. Genetic study of morphological identical species showed that these can be genetically very divergent, which leads to the recognition of so-called cryptic species (Knowlton, 2000). The present study focused on species of the genus Bathyporeia, which is one of the most problematic taxa concerning species identification (d’Udekem d’Acoz, 2004). The general objective of this study was to get insight in the degree of genetic structuring between and within species of this amphipod genus. For this purpose, intertidal and subtidal samples from the most common Bathyporeia species (B. pilosa, B. sarsi, B. pelagica, B. elegans and B. guilliamsoniana) were collected along the French-Belgian-Dutch coast. These samples were analysed using DNA sequencing information from the mitochondrial cytochrome oxydase I (COI) gene and the Internal Transcribed Spacer (ITS) from ribosomal DNA