Meeting Abstract
19.1 Thursday, Jan. 3 Morphological and genetic variation in allopatric populations of Acanthina angelica in the northern Gulf of California COTA, R.M.*; SHUSTER, S.M.; Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff; Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff raena.cota@nau.edu
Acanthina angelica is a dioecious marine gastropod, endemic to the northern Gulf of California. Four allopatric populations near Puerto Peñasco, Sonora, MX, were identified as possible isolated areas (preventing migration). The study sites were Playa Miramar (PM), Punta Pelicana (PP), Estero Morua (EM), and Boca de Estero (BE). Variation in morphology and genetic sequence were studied to determine differences within and between populations. Seven shell characteristics from 342 individuals were measured. An ANOVA of the shell characteristics showed differences in the means of all seven characteristics (p<.0001). A principal components analysis of the morphology showed no overlap between two (PM, EM) of the four populations (A=0.34, p<.000001). An AMOVA of molecular differences (from AFLP analysis) of individuals (n=119) yielded a value of φPT=0.08 (α=0.01).
