Taxonomic status of the genera Amphipholis and Microphiopholis (Amphiuridae: Ophiuroidea): microstructural analyses

• Grant number: 23/15696-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: February 01, 2024
• End date: December 31, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Zoology - Taxonomy of Recent Groups
• Principal Investigator: Michela Borges
• Grantee: Livia Zavan Cano
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biologia (IB). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 18/10313-0 - Build-up of scientific collections of marine invertebrates: strategies for biodiversity conservation, AP.BTA.TEM

Abstract

The Amphiuridae family is considered to be the largest and most diverse among the Ophiuroidea, with more than 50 genera described, many of which still have taxonomic problems, with overlapping diagnostic characters that make it difficult to separate taxa, such as Amphipholis and Microphiopholis, the latter of which was reclassified to include species of Amphipholis that had very small disc scales and brachial vertebrae perforated ventro-dorsally. However, Microphiopholis is still an uncertain genus due to its lack of support, since these characteristics have already been recorded in other genera of Amphiuridae. Thus, the main objective of this project is to determine whether or not the genus Microphiopholis Turner, 1985, and its respective diagnostic characters are valid, by comparing it with Amphipholis. To this end, the external (dorsal, ventral and lateral brachial plates, spines) and internal (vertebrae) morphological characters of the species: Microphiopholis atra, M. subtilis, Amphipholis januarii and A. squamata will be analyzed, comparing them between young and adult individuals of each of them in a growth series study, describing the morphological variations throughout growth.