Identification of the Lobster Panulirus polyphagus using Morpho and Molecular Systematics from Southern India

The taxonomy of the species Panulirus polyphagus collected from the landing sites in the Kanyakumari district of Tamil Nadu, India, was investigated by an integrated approach including morphological, coding matrices and molecular analyses. The coding matrix has 16 characters, including 7 multivariate and 9 bivariate characteristics. Phylogenetic analysis using the neighbour joining method revealed a genetic divergence of 0.03 between P. polyphagus and populations in Mayalibit Bay, Indian Ocean, Palabharatu Bay and Sri Lanka. Molecular analysis of the 642 bp mitochondrial COI gene confirmed the identity of the species and revealed a monophyllic group with close genetic similarities to Vietnamese, Singaporean and Chinese populations and minimal genetic diversity. However, the increased K2P level suggests that the genetic divergence of COI genes in P. polyphagus chinnamuttom between populations in the Pacific Ocean shows the need for a more detailed molecular and morphological analysis to clearly delimit the regional species boundaries.