Page 5 - Dedola2011

P. nobilis occurs in coastal areas, between 0.5 and 60 m depth, principally on soft
sediments colonized by seagrass meadows, but also on bare sand, mud, maerl beds,
among boulders or pebbly bottoms. Generai knowledge ofthe main constraints which
control the population structure ofP. nobilis is stili incomplete, human activities
strongly affected its populations leading to a reduction of its distribution in the last
decades, previous papers have highlighted specific features conceming spatial
distribution, but consistent genetic data on the species are stili lacking.

Patella ulyssiponensis
The limpet Patella ulyssiponensis Gmelin, 1791 (Mollusca: Gastropoda) is widely
distributed in the Mediterranean as well as in the north-eastem Atlantic, from southem
Norway to north-westem Africa, including Macaronesia. This limpet is widespread in
the shallow subtidal and low intertidal zones where it can be found on the more exposed
shores as well as in mid-shore rock pools (Guerra and Gaudencio 1986; Hawkins et al.
1990). In the Mediterranean P. ulyssiponensis is one of the most challenging species,
whose abundance estimates may be affected by troublesome distinction between this
species and the endemie Patella caerulea L. 1758 as well as in the Atlantic coasts and
in Macaronesia with Patella vulgata Linnaeus, 1758 and Patella candei d' Orbigy, 1839
respectively . The application of molecular methods has recently contributed to reveal
the occurrence of complexes of cryptic species even in taxa assumed easy to identify in
the field, such in genus Patella (Sa-Pinto et al. 2010).
In the present study we bave identified specific PCR-RFLP (Restriction Fragment
Length Polymorphism PCR-based) markers on the COI sequences which could be used
as an alternative, fast and cost-effective diagnostic tool for the discrimination of P.
ulyssiponensis s. l. from P. caerulea, P. vulgata and P. candei (Sanna et al. in press), in

5

Gìan Luca Dedola: ANALISI DELLA VARIABILITÀ GENETICA DI PATELLA FéRRUGINEA, PATEL-LA UL l'SSIPONENSIS (MOLLUSCA: GASTROPODA) E PINNA
NOBILIS (MOLLUSCA: BIVALVIA): lLCONTRJBUTO DEl DATI MOLECOLARl ALLA CONSERVAZIONE DI SPECIE MINACCIATE- Tesi di douorato in Scienze
della natura e delle sue risorse • indiri7.zo BK>logi.a Ambientale, Università degli Studi di Sassarl