| Grant number: | 12/02969-6 |
| Support Opportunities: | Regular Research Grants |
| Start date: | May 01, 2012 |
| End date: | April 30, 2015 |
| Field of knowledge: | Biological Sciences - Zoology - Taxonomy of Recent Groups |
| Principal Investigator: | Ricardo Pinto da Rocha |
| Grantee: | Ricardo Pinto da Rocha |
| Host Institution: | Instituto de Biociências (IB). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil |
| City of the host institution: | São Paulo |
Abstract
The Onychophora is a group of soft body organisms that have suffered few changes since its origin in the Cambrian period. Therefore, the Phylum is a keystone group to the study of invertebrate evolutionary patterns. The onychophorans have a Gondwanic distribution and only two extant families, Peripatopsidae and Peripatidae. The former has an Austral distribution whereas the later a Septentrional one. The family Peripatidae has up to 70% of its diversity concentrated in the American continent, comprising seven weakly defined genera. Among that, Epiperipatus is the largest Peripatidae genus and its distribution is also widespread, occurring since Costa Rica to the southeast of Brazil. The genus comprises up to 24 species and the majority of them were described over the past three years. Additionally, its boundaries is not well defined and the taxonomy of the genus still have base on characteristics defined by Bouvier in the 20th century. Only one revision of Peripatidae has been done after Bouvier's monographs, which included data from the integument ultrastructure, but its taxonomic problems remain still present. Recently, molecular systematic studies, based on DNA fragments analysis (COI and 12S rRNA), point out the possibility of existence of cryptic species among Epiperipatus and, as a result, cast doubt on the quality of the morphological definition of the Epiperipatus species. Given its weak definition, widespread distribution, and large diversity, the cladistic revision of the Epiperipatus genus is certainly an important issue. Therefore, this project aims to solve the genus inconsistence through an integrative approach, using cladistic analysis based on morphological and molecular data. (AU)
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