Cryptic diversity in the genus Adineta Hudson & Gosse, 1886 (Rotifera: Bdelloidea: Adinetidae): a DNA taxonomy approach

Cryptic species are continuously discovered in rotifers using different methods to delineate these units of diversity. DNA taxonomy is the most effective method taxonomists have to untie potential cryptic taxa. Here, we estimate hidden diversity in a genus of bdelloid rotifers, Adineta. We analyse cryptic diversity using a coalescent approach to infer evolutionarily significant units from a phylogenetic tree obtained from cytochrome oxidase I sequences. Cryptic diversity was measured for eight traditional species and from several additional undetermined populations. Taxonomic inflation of up to 36 taxa was found in A. vaga from DNA taxonomy. As observed in other microscopic organisms, cryptic taxa within each traditional species were not geographically isolated, but had significantly narrower ecological niches than expected by chance alone.