Application of palaeogenetic techniques to historic mollusc shells reveals phylogeographic structure in a New Zealand abalone

Natural history collections worldwide contain a plethora of mollusc shells. Recent studies have detailed the sequencing of DNA extracted from shells up to thousands of years old and from various taphonomic and preservational contexts. However, previous approaches have largely addressed methodological rather than evolutionary research questions. Here, we report the generation of DNA sequence data from mollusc shells using such techniques, applied to Haliotis virginea Gmelin, 1791, a New Zealand abalone, in which morphological variation has led to the recognition of several forms and subspecies. We successfully recovered near‐complete mitogenomes from 22 specimens including 12 dry‐preserved shells up to 60 years old. We used a combination of palaeogenetic techniques that have not previously been applied to shell, including DNA extraction optimized for ultra‐short fragments and hybridization‐capture of single‐stranded DNA libraries. Phylogenetic analyses revealed three major, well‐supported clades comprising samples from: (1) The Three Kings Islands; (2) the Auckland, Chatham and Antipodes Islands; and (3) mainland New Zealand and Campbell Island. This phylogeographic structure does not correspond to the currently recognized forms. Critically, our nonreliance on freshly collected or ethanol‐preserved samples enabled inclusion of topotypes of all recognized subspecies as well as additional difficult‐to‐sample populations. Broader application of these comparatively cost‐effective and reliable methods to modern, historical, archaeological and palaeontological shell samples has the potential to revolutionize invertebrate genetic research.