Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 May 2009
It has been argued by Johannesson & Johannesson (1990b) that the pattern of common genetic variation in Littorina saxatilis (Olivi) and Littorina neglecta Bean indicates gene flow in sympatric populations of these ‘species’. They suggest that L. neglecta is not a good species. We report that a gene diversity analysis of polymorphism in Aat-1 suggests that L. saxatilis and Littorina arcana Hannaford Ellis also show common features in allele frequency distribution. This casts doubt on the argument of Johannesson & Johannesson (1990b) from enzyme polymorphism data on Aat-1 that L. neglecta may simply be an ecotype of L. saxatilis. It seems likely that the similarities are due to operation of the same selection factors on all these species.