Radix dolgini: The integrative taxonomic approach supports the species status of a Siberian endemic snail (Mollusca, Gastropoda, Lymnaeidae)

The molecular techniques are the standard tool for the study of the taxonomic position and phylogenetic affinities of the lymnaeid genus Radix Montfort, 1810, and the majority of the European representatives of this taxon have been studied in this respect. However, a plethora of nominal species of Radix described from Northern Asia (Siberia and the Russian Far East) are still characterized only morphologically, raising some doubts concerning their validity. In this paper, we present the triple (morphological, molecular, and zoogeographical) evidence that there is at least one endemic species of Radix, Radix dolgini (Gundrizer and Starobogatov, 1979), widely distributed in Siberia and Western Mongolia. Phylogenetically, it is a sister species to the European R. labiata (Rossmaessler, 1835) [=R. peregra auct.], and their common ancestor most probably lived in the Pliocene, nearly 3.25Myr ago. Our results assume the existence of an extended dispersal barrier for freshwater hydrobionts between Europe and Siberia in the Late Pliocene that may be important for biogeographical explanations. Three other nominal Siberian species of Radix: R. kurejkae (Gundrizer and Starobogatov, 1979), R. gundrizeri (Kruglov and Starobogatov, 1983), and R. ulaganica (Kruglov and Starobogatov, 1983) proved to be the junior synonyms of R. dolgini.