DNA barcode, taxonomic and ecological notes for the identification of the invasive amphipod Monocorophium acherusicum (Costa, 1851)

MARIANO ALBANO; CARLOS ENRIQUE RUMBOLD; CHIESA IGNACIO LUIS; VAZQUEZ GUADALUPE; MARÍA PAZ SAL MOYANO; JUAN PABLO LANCIA; EDUARDO SPIVAK; SANDRA OBENAT

NEW ZEALAND JOURNAL OF MARINE AND FRESHWATER RESEARCH

RSNZ PUBLISHING

Lugar: Auckland; Año: 2019 vol. 53 p. 15 - 32

0028-8330

We report the occurrence of the invasive amphipod Monocorophium acherusicum in Mar del Plata port, Argentina, using morphological and molecular analysis and estimated mean abundance to detect monthly variations of this population. We compared M. acherusicum morphology with that of M. insidiosum and Crassicorophium bonelli, the two most similar locally occurring species, to establish the diagnostic characteristics for the correct identification of them; moreover, we provide some taxonomic notes about others corophiids regionally distributed. M. acherusicum were collected in a subtidal biofouling community and its mean abundance was maximum in summer. In the molecular analysis, the maximum-likelihood tree showed that specimens from Mar del Plata were clustered with M. acherusicum specimens from GenBank and Bold systems. We support and confirm the species identity in Mar del Plata port using DNA barcoding and with taxonomic methods.