| Grant number: | 11/20211-0 |
| Support Opportunities: | Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate |
| Start date: | February 01, 2012 |
| End date: | April 30, 2016 |
| Field of knowledge: | Biological Sciences - Zoology - Taxonomy of Recent Groups |
| Principal Investigator: | Ricardo Pinto da Rocha |
| Grantee: | Cristiano Sampaio Costa |
| Host Institution: | Instituto de Biociências (IB). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil |
| Associated scholarship(s): | 14/20557-2 - Systematic and phylogenetic analysis of Epiperipatus Clark, 1913 (Onychophora: Peripatidae) based on molecular and morphological data, BE.EP.DR |
Abstract The Onychophora body plan 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 comprise up to 24 species and the majority of them were described over the past three years. Additionally, its boundaries are not well defined and the taxonomy of the genus still have been based on characteristics defined by Bouvier at the 20th century. Only one revision of Peripatidae have 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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