Subdivision of Korean freshwater hydrosphere based on zoogeographical distribution of freshwater Korean crayfish, Cambaroides similis (Cambaridae: Decapoda)

초록

For defining exact boundary of conservation units of endangered Korean crayfishes, C. similes, phylogenetic and population genetic studies are very important. Mitochondrial 16S rDNA sequence comparisons were explored to evaluate the genetic diversity of Korean crayfish. For sequence analysis, we obtained XX sequences from C. similis specimens of XX different localities in South Korea. In the phylogenetic analyses of NJ, MP and ML, the C. similis were divided into four distinct groups with high bootstrap values. The crayfish distributions in the inland Korean peninsula are exactly match to the previously known three subdistricts of Korean freshwater hydrosphere which were divided by zoogeographical distributions of freshwater fishes. In our crayfish data, however, the West Korea subdistrict was divided into two, and West Sea Island area was newly identified as a fourth subdistrict. We concluded that crayfishes could be most effective animal indicator for detailed subdivision of Korean freshwater hydrosphere because they are abundant through all around Korean freshwater ecosystem and genetic variations are evenly distributed well matched with previously known subdistricts.