Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
TURKISH JOURNAL OF ZOOLOGY, cilt.49, sa.4, ss.197-206, 2025 (SCI-Expanded)
Clitellata is a major clade of Annelida that includes almost all freshwater and terrestrial annelids as well as many marine
species. Aquatic oligochaetes include the union of the two multispecies families: Naididae and Tubificidae. There has been much debate
regarding the phylogeny and classification of the cosmopolitan and diverse Naididae. In this study, the total mitogenome sequences
of Potamothrix hammoniensis (Naididae: Tubificinae), Stylaria fossularis, Stylaria lacustris, Chaetogaster diaphanus, Chaetogaster
diaphanus sp. B, and Slavina appendiculata (Naididae: Naidinae) were sequenced and characterized and can be accessed from NCBI
under accession numbers OQ654101, PP909790, PP909791, PP909792, PP909793, and PP893275, respectively. For comparative analysis,
101 clitellate mitogenome sequences (from 70 oligochaetes and 31 hirudineans) were downloaded from NCBI. Comparative analysis
showed that nine anticodon-codon interactions do not have exact matches—a pattern consistent with the restriction of transcription
by mito-tRNAs. Within Clitellata, nine different gene order patterns were determined, and four of them were found in Naididae. This
suggests that mitochondrial gene order shows a cumulative effect in the evolution of mitogenome sequences. Based on phylogenetic
analysis, it appears that stronger support for Clitellata can be achieved with additional sequences. Additional sequences sampled from
several other families could be used for even more stability.