Unrecognized Species-Level Diversity of Terrestrial Nemerteans in the UNESCO World Heritage Ogasawara Islands Revealed by Mitogenomics
ミトコンドリアCOX1遺伝子の部分配列（573 bp）に基づく分子系統解析※4の結果、小笠原系統（オレンジ）と、バミューダ諸島・キューバ・マルティニーク島・ニューカレドア・ 沖縄諸島などに分布する広域分布系統（青）は明瞭に分かれ、国内には両系統が分布していることが明らかになった。
（CC BY-NC-ND 4.0に基づき論文より引用し日本語に改変）
Joint press release (in Japanese) by Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, Showa Medical University, The University of Tokyo and Hokkaido University
Abstract
Background
The terrestrial ribbon worm Geonemertes pelaensis Semper, 1863 (phylum Nemertea) is widely reported from tropical regions worldwide. In Japan, this species has been recorded from subtropical islands including the Ogasawara Islands, a UNESCO World Heritage Site south of Tokyo recognized for its unique biodiversity, where it has been implicated in the decline of native soil invertebrates. Here, we demonstrate that the nemerteans in the Ogasawara Islands are genetically and morphologically distinct from those found on Yonaguni Island (Okinawa, Japan), indicating the presence of at least two separate species in Japan.
Results
We sequenced the complete mitochondrial genomes of both populations (18,755 bp for Ogasawara; 31,745 bp for Yonaguni), revealing….
Read the original article on BMC Ecology and Evolution
Article inforamation
Natsumi Hookabe, Shimpei F. Hiruta, Akinori Yabuki, Hiroki Yoshino, Yu Hisasue, Naoto Sawada, Rei Ueshima & Hiroshi Kajihara, Unrecognized Species-Level Diversity of Terrestrial Nemerteans in the UNESCO World Heritage Ogasawara Islands Revealed by Mitogenomics, BMC Ecology and Evolution, 25, 135, (2025)
DOI:10.1186/s12862-025-02468-7
