The European cave salamander, Proteus anguinus, or proteus, is the largest obligate cave animal in the world. It is an endangered and charismatic species of high conservation importance for ...subterranean waters. Conservation genetic studies are hampered by the extreme size and repetitiveness of its nuclear genome.
The aim of the study was to develop and characterize the first microsatellite markers for proteus, and test their informativeness at the level of individuals, populations and between populations in the Postojna and Planina caves in Slovenia.
Twenty‐three novel polymorphic microsatellite markers were amplified in 201 individuals from both caves using three multiplex reactions. The number of alleles per locus varied from three to nine. The loci are largely unlinked and conform to Hardy–Weinberg genotype frequencies. Genetic equilibrium and an FST value of 0.0024 suggest a nearly panmictic population in both caves separated by some 10 km of subterranean river course, while Bayesian clustering detected weak genetic structure.
The microsatellites described fill the gap of urgently needed nuclear markers in Proteus that can be applied in genetic mark–recapture studies, population monitoring and identification of management units to assist conservation efforts.
ABSTRACT
Cover illustration. Like most other cave animals, the Proteus anguinus anguinus (cave‐dwelling salamander) experiences periodically poor and discontinuous food supply and/or intermittent ...hypoxia that may occur for long periods in the subterranean environments. The salamander adjusts its metabolism and utilization of metabolic reserves to these fluctuating periods of food supply. In this issue of the Journal of Morphology, Mali and coauthors studied morphological and biochemical changes of liver tissue of the cave‐dwelling salamander during periods of food deprivation (pp 887–900). With a combination of qualitative morphological and quantitative biochemical data, the authors evaluate the adaptive capacity of the liver and the importance of the liver as an energy storing organ.
Later, an additional specimen was seen and photographed in a spring at Jelševnik and finally, after a strong rain, we found more than ten specimens creeping from holes through the thin turf, ...evidently covering a porous karst rock, in another spring, Na trati, at Jelševnik.Beside dark pigmentation and evidently functional eyes, these are a normally shaped head without a snout elongation, differently shaped skull bones, lower teeth number, shorter legs, shorter tail (with lower vertebrae number), and longer trunk with higher vertebrae number.Beside proteus, the springs at Jelševnik are draining also some epigean and even terrestrial (Diplopoda, Chilopoda) animals, which indicates a relatively good food supply, resulting in a comparatively weak selection pressure for this non-troglomorph troglobiont.
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