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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Taxonomy and phylogeny of the family Suberitidae (Porifera: Demospongiae) in California
This study presents a comprehensive taxonomic revision of the family Suberitidae (Porifera: Demospongiae) for California, USA. We include the three species previously known from the region, document two additional species previously known from other regions, and formally describe four new species as Pseudosuberites latke sp. nov., Suberites californiana sp. nov., Suberites kumeyaay sp. nov., and Suberites agaricus sp. nov. Multi-locus DNA sequence data is presented for seven of the nine species, and was combined with all publicly available data to produce the most comprehensive global phylogeny for the family to date. By integrating morphological and genetic data, we show that morphological characters may be sufficient for regional species identification but are likely inadequate for global classification into genera that reflect the evolutionary history of the family. We therefore propose that DNA sequencing is a critical component to support future taxonomic revisions.
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- PAR ID:
- 10548650
- Publisher / Repository:
- Magnolia Press
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Zootaxa
- Volume:
- 5447
- Issue:
- 1
- ISSN:
- 1175-5326
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 1 to 28
- Subject(s) / Keyword(s):
- sponges, integrative taxonomy, molecular systematics
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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