Areas of endemism of land planarians (Platyhelminthes: Tricladida) in the Southern Atlantic Forest

PLoS One. 2020 Jul 20;15(7):e0235949. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0235949. eCollection 2020.

Abstract

Areas of endemism (AoE) are the main study units in analytical biogeographic methods, and are often defined as an area with two or more endemic species living in them, presenting substantial congruence among their range limits. We explored the distribution of land planarians (Geoplanidae, Platyhelminthes) across the southern region of the Brazilian Atlantic forest (from the state of Rio de Janeiro, to the state of Rio Grande do Sul) utilizing DaSilva's et al. (2015) protocol. We used two methods, Endemicity Analysis (EA), and Geographical Interpolation of Endemism (GIE). We identified nine AoE of terrestrial flatworms in the Southern Atlantic forest. Performance of the methodologies is discussed. These AoE of land planarians can be explained through vicariance events combined with their physiological and ecological own limitations. Interestingly, these AoE are congruent with fine-scale approaches such as that with harvestmen. Most land planarians have revealed to present a very small distributional range evidencing their potential as a good model for fine-scale studies of AoE.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Biodiversity*
  • Biological Evolution*
  • Brazil
  • Conservation of Natural Resources*
  • Environmental Monitoring*
  • Forests
  • Phylogeography*
  • Planarians / physiology*
  • Population Dynamics

Grants and funding

The present work was financed with support from Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) (Proc. 2016/18295-5) (http://www.fapesp.br/) and a Graduate Fellowship from Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) (http://www.cnpq.br/). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.