Molecular phylogeny of Vesiculariidae (Bryozoa: Ctenostomata) clarifies the taxonomic status of species of Amathia Lamoroux and Bowerbankia Farre

• Grant number: 12/11301-9
• Support type: Research Grants - Visiting Researcher Grant - International
• Duration: September 30, 2012 - October 31, 2012
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Zoology - Taxonomy of Recent Groups
• Principal researcher: Karin Hoch Fehlauer Ale
• Grantee: Karin Hoch Fehlauer Ale
• Visiting researcher: Andrea Waeschenbach
• Visiting researcher institution: Natural History Museum, London, England
• Home Institution: Centro de Biologia Marinha (CEBIMAR). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Sebastião , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Morphological characters are comparatively sparse and often plastic in the non-calcified Ctenostomata. Molecular data have established the Ctenostomata to be a highly paraphyletic assemblage with the genus Amathia nesting within the genus Bowerbankia, as sister-taxon to B. citrina. Recent morphological evidence which supports this finding comes from stolonal rhizoid structures found in B. pustulosa, B. citrina and Amathia, which are proposed to be homologous structures in those taxa, but different to rhizoids found in other Bowerbankia species. Furthermore, the autozooids in these taxa are arranged in more or less spiral series, which is different from the autozooid arrangement in all other Bowerbankia species. With molecular data having been used to resolve taxonomic ambiguity in the genus Amathia previously, we wish to examine the interrelationships amongst species of the genera Bowerbankia and Amathia, using three molecular markers: nuclear 18S ribosomal DNA, mitochondrial 16S ribosomal DNA, and cytochrome c oxidase subunit I. More specifically, we want to address: (i) do all the examined Amathia species nest within the genus Bowerbankia? (ii) is Amathia a monophyletic genus? (iii) do taxa with spiral zooid arrangement and rhizoid structures, i.e. Amathia, B. pustulosa, B. citrina form a monophyletic group, supporting the previous morphological findings? (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

WAESCHENBACH, ANDREA; VIEIRA, LEANDRO M.; REVERTER-GIL, OSCAR; SOUTO-DERUNGS, JAVIER; NASCIMENTO, KARINE B.; FEHLAUER-ALE, KARIN H. A phylogeny of Vesiculariidae (Bryozoa, Ctenostomata) supports synonymization of three genera and reveals possible cryptic diversity. ZOOLOGICA SCRIPTA, v. 44, n. 6, p. 667-683, NOV 2015. Web of Science Citations: 11.