Study of Phylogenetic Tree and Morphology of Aporrectodea Based on Mitochondrial Marker (16S rRNA gene) in Some Area South of Baghdad/ Iraq

Abstract

This study aimed to show the phylogenetic structure of Aporrectodea genus in order to verify its cladistics nature and its taxonomic validity. In this work, collection of Aporrectodea genus from three locations from South of Baghdad, (AL-Karrada, AL-Zafranya and New Baghdad) are studied. First, we used usual morphological characteristics to identify each species than molecular phylogenetic analyses are based on the sequences of mitochondrial 16S rRNA gene regions and used software MEGA6 and Raptorx software. Rresults of the two methods (MEGA 6 and Raptorx software) were cluster groups (organisms of 8 sample from Group1A and Group3) in one group and with distance equal to 0.006, clustering of  group 2 as a single group, and reached the highest value between group 2 and group 1(B) with distance equal to 0.272 and to move away genetic traits, Raptorx software, conformation of protein for 16SrRNA appeared as a result of the similarity of Mega6. The  marker mitochondrial 16S rRNA gene is a powerful tool for identifying species of earthworms and provides a useful complement to traditional morphological taxonomy.