The first attempts to investigate the molecular diversity of South Caucasian freshwater mollusks (Mollusca, Gastropoda) and lay down the first bricks to build up a DNA-barcode library. In total, 289 COI barcode sequences were obtained from 33 morpho-species belonging to 24 molluscan genera and 10 families that represent nearly 30% of known freshwater molluscan diversity of the South Caucasus region.
In the present publication, the authors provided the first stage of an ongoing project that aims to build a DNA barcode reference library for South Caucasian freshwater molluscs within the framework of the Caucasus Barcode of Life initiative (https://ggbc.eu). In particular, the aim of the given study was to:
(1) generate COI barcode sequences for a part of the freshwater molluscan taxa known for the region, (2) investigate within vs. between species sequence variation, (3) identify gaps in species-level taxonomic knowledge of freshwater molluscs and (4) develop subsequent research agenda.
