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Molecular systematic studies of the anthozoan class Octocorallia have revealed widespread incongruence between phylogenetic relationships and taxonomic classification at all levels of the Linnean hierarchy. Among the soft coral taxa in order Malacalcyonacea, the family Alcyoniidae and its type genusAlcyoniumhave both been recognised to be highly polyphyletic. A recent family-level revision of Octocorallia established a number of new families for genera formerly considered to belong to Alcyoniidae, but revision ofAlcyoniumis not yet complete. Previous molecular studies have supported the placement ofAlcyonium verseveldti(Benayahu, 1982) in family Cladiellidae rather than Alcyoniidae, phylogenetically distinct from the other three genera in that family. Here we describe a new genus,Ofwegenumgen. nov.to accommodateO. verseveldticomb. nov.and three new species of that genus,O. coronalucissp. nov.,O. kloogisp. nov., andO. collisp. nov., bringing the total number of species in this genus to four.Ofwegenumgen. nov.is a rarely encountered genus so far known from only a few locations spanning the Indian and western Pacific Oceans. We present the morphological characters of each species and use molecular data from both DNA barcoding and target-enrichment of conserved elements to explore species boundaries and phylogenetic relationships within the genus.
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Austropallene halanychi sp. nov., a new species of sea spider (Pycnogonida, Callipallenidae) from the Ross Sea, Antarctica
Here we presentAustropallene halanychisp. nov., a new species of pycnogonid within the family Callipallenidae (Pycnogonida), collected from the Ross Sea, Antarctica. While retaining key morphological features known for the genusAustropalleneHodgson, 1915a, the new species is distinguished from congeners by its much larger size, along with the combined absence of a denticle on the inner surface of the fixed finger of the chelifore claw along with the presence of small conical outgrowths where the fixed finger of the chelifore claw meets the movable finger on both the dorsal and ventral sides, and also the ability to fully close the chelifore claw. Additionally, the complete mitochondrial genome ofA. halanychiis consistent with other members of the genusAustropallenein terms of gene order and directionality. A phylogenetic tree consisting of mitochondrial protein-coding gene data placesA. halanychias sister toAustropallene cornigera(Möbius, 1902). Additionally, a phylogenetic tree constructed using partial COI data from other callipallenids placed the new species in a clade containing the genusAustropallene. The combination of molecular data in addition to key morphological differences from similar species in the genus leaves no doubt that the new taxon is a new Antarctic species ofAustropallene.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1916665
- PAR ID:
- 10534195
- Publisher / Repository:
- ZooKeys
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- ZooKeys
- Volume:
- 1185
- ISSN:
- 1313-2989
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 163 to 180
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1185.108286
