DNA barcoding reveals neritid diversity (Mollusca: Gastropoda) diversity in Malaysian waters

This is the first study to identify and determine the phylogenetics of neritids found in Malaysia. In total, twelve species from the family Neritidae were recorded. Ten species were from the genus Nerita and two species were from the genus Neritina. DNA barcodes were successfully assigned to each species. Although some of these species were previously reported in the region, three are only presently reported in this study. The dendrogram showed Nerita and Neritina strongly supported in their respective monophyletic clades. Phylogenetic positions of some species appeared unstable in the trees. This could be due to the differences in a small number of nucleotides, thus minimizing genetic variation between each specimen and species.