Pontoscolex corethrurus is a well-known invasive earthworm in tropical zone which is believed to have originated from the Guayana Shield in South America and was described as parthenogenetic. A recent phylogenetic study revealed four cryptic species in the P. corethrurus complex (L1, L2, L3 and L4), among them L1 was particularly widespread and was proposed as P. corethrurus sensu stricto. Here, our aims were to investigate the genetic variation of P. corethrurus L1 in its presumed native and introduced ranges and to examine its reproductive strategy. An extensive dataset of 478 cytochrome oxidase I gene (COI) sequences, obtained in specimens sampled all around the world, revealed a weak COI haplotype diversity with one major haplotype (H1) present in 76% of the specimens. Analyses of the genetic variation of 12 L1 populations were done using both nuclear (226 AFLP profiles) and mitochondrial (269 COI sequences) genetic information. The high AFLP genotype diversity at the worldwide scale and the fact that no genotype was shared among populations, allowed to reject the ‘super-clone’ invasion hypothesis. Moreover, a similar level of mean genetic diversity indices were observed between the introduced and native ranges, a pattern explained by a history of multiple introductions of specimens from different parts of the world. At last, occurrence of identical AFLPs genotypes (i.e. clones) in several population confirmed asexual reproduction, but recombination was also revealed by gametic equilibrium analysis in some populations suggesting that P. corethrurus L1 may have a mixed reproductive strategy.

Pontoscolex corethrurus是热带地区著名的入侵earth，据信起源于南美的瓜亚纳盾，被描述为孤雌生殖。最近的系统发育研究表明，P。corethrurus复合体中有四个隐性物种（L1，L2，L3和L4），其中L1特别广泛，被提议为P. corethrurus sensu stricto。在这里，我们的目的是调查P. corethrurus的遗传变异L1在其推测的原生和引进范围内，并研究其繁殖策略。在全世界采样的样本中获得的478个细胞色素氧化酶I基因（COI）序列的广泛数据集显示，弱的COI单倍型多样性与76％的样本中存在一种主要的单倍型（H1）。利用核（226 AFLP谱）和线粒体（269 COI序列）遗传信息对12个L1种群的遗传变异进行了分析。在全球范围内，高水平的AFLP基因型多样性以及种群之间没有共享基因型这一事实，使人们拒绝了“超级克隆”入侵假说。此外，在引入和本地范围之间观察到相似水平的平均遗传多样性指数，一种模式，由世界各地多次引入标本的历史解释。最后，在几个种群中出现相同的AFLPs基因型（即克隆）证实了无性繁殖，但通过某些种群的配子平衡分析也揭示了重组，这表明P. corethrurus L1可能有混合繁殖策略。