Phylogeography and genetic diversity of the copepod family Cyclopidae (Crustacea: Cyclopoida) from freshwater ecosystems of Southeast Nigeria

BACKGROUND: Copepods are key components of aquatic ecosystems and can help regulate the global carbon cycle. Much attention has been paid to the species diversity of copepods worldwide, but the phylogeography and genetic diversity of copepods in Nigeria is unexplored. RESULTS: Using a mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I marker, we preformed phylogenetic and phylogeographic analyses for Cyclopidae copepods in Southeast Nigeria. A high species diversity of Cyclopidae in Nigeria: 5 species of Tropocyclops, 5 species of Mesocyclops and 2 species of Thermocyclops from Cyclopidae were identified in 15 populations. Moreover, we detected 18 unique haplotypes, which fell into two distinct clades. Pairwise genetic distances (uncorrected p-distances) among the species of Cyclopidae ranged from 0.05 to 0.257. Several species co-existed in the same lake, and some haplotypes were shared among different geographic populations, suggesting a dispersal of Cyclopidae in our sampling region. Finally, we found that the population genetic diversity for each species of Cyclopidae was low in Nigeria. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings explored the species diversity and distribution of copepods within the family Cyclopidae for 15 Nigerian freshwater ecosystems: a high species diversity of Cyclopidae copepods was detected over a small geographic sampling range. Results from this study contribute to a better understanding of copepod diversity of Nigerian freshwater ecosystems.