Morphological phylogeny of the families Phyllophoridae and Sclerodactylidae (Echinodermata: Holothuroidea: Dendrochirotida)

• Grant number: 13/18202-9
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Start date: December 01, 2013
• End date: November 30, 2017
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Zoology - Taxonomy of Recent Groups
• Principal Investigator: Marcos Domingos Siqueira Tavares
• Grantee: Luciana Ribeiro Martins
• Host Institution: Museu de Zoologia (MZ). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Currently, the order Dendrochirotida comprises about 800 species, being half of these within the families Sclerodactylidae and Phyllophoridae. Regardless, most information about these families is from old morphological reviews (Phyllophoridae in 1954; Sclerodactylidae not reviewed). Once the limits between Sclerodactylidae and Phyllophoridae are not well defined, the validity of the former has been questioned for some authors. In fact, while most of the families show a particular set of dermal ossicles, Sclerodactylidae does not; it does, however, possess dermal ossicles that resemble those found within the phyllophorids (an expected composition, since the sclerodactylid subfamilies previously belonged to Phyllophoridae). The taxonomy of these groups is based on different opinions, which resulted in two main (and divergent) classifications; and both are largely used depending on the preference of the researcher. Since phylogenetic studies are lacking, it is not possible to infer which characters are synapomorphies supporting each genus and family. In this regard, the goals of this study are to test the monophyly of the families Sclerodactylidae and Phyllophoridae, and propose hypotheses of relationship between their genera using parsimony analysis, this being the first cladistic study of the class Holothuroidea conducted in Brazil. (AU)