Unravelling the secretes of Haminoea diversity in the Atlantic and Eastern Pacific Oceans

Martina Turani from Italy, was offered a fellowship by La Sapienza, University of Rome to undertake an internship under the supervision of Professor Manuel Malaquias at the Department of Natural History (University Museum) for a period of 12 months (September 2021 - August 2022). During this period, she will work on the diversity, systematics, speciation and biogeography of Haminoea snails. Haminoea are bubble-shelled marine snails with an estimated 15-20 species in the Atlantic and Eastern Pacific Oceans. The majority of species is known from their shells only, which are all very similar making the identification of species very difficult. This project is the first attempt to incorporate all previously available and new data from shell structure, anatomy and molecular sequences in a systematic revision, phylogenetic and biogeographic analysis of the genus Haminoea. The main objectives are to review and clarify the systematics of the genus, the relationships between species, and the role of the closure of the Isthmus of Panama during the Pliocene with consequent separation of the Atlantic and Eastern Pacific oceans in the speciation and biogeography of Haminoea.