Towards a phylogenetic classification of reef corals: the Indo‐Pacific genera Merulina,Goniastrea and Scapophyllia (Scleractinia,Merulinidae) |
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| Authors: | Danwei Huang Francesca Benzoni Roberto Arrigoni Andrew H Baird Michael L Berumen Jessica Bouwmeester Loke Ming Chou Hironobu Fukami Wilfredo Y Licuanan Edward R Lovell Rudolf Meier Peter A Todd Ann F Budd |
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| Institution: | 1. Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Iowa, , Iowa City, IA, 52242 USA;2. Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, , San Diego, La Jolla, CA, 92093 USA;3. Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore, , Singapore, 117543 Singapore;4. Department of Biotechnology and Biosciences, University of Milano‐Bicocca, , 20126 Milan, Italy;5. ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University, , Townsville, Qld, 4811 Australia;6. Red Sea Research Center, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, , Thuwal, Jeddah, 23955 Kingdom of Saudi Arabia;7. Department of Marine Biology and Environmental Science, University of Miyazaki, , Miyazaki, 889‐2192 Japan;8. Br. Alfred Shields FSC Ocean Research Center and Biology Department, De La Salle University, , Manila, 1004 The Philippines;9. School of Marine Studies, University of the South Pacific, , Suva, Fiji |
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| Abstract: | Recent advances in scleractinian systematics and taxonomy have been achieved through the integration of molecular and morphological data, as well as rigorous analysis using phylogenetic methods. In this study, we continue in our pursuit of a phylogenetic classification by examining the evolutionary relationships between the closely related reef coral genera Merulina, Goniastrea, Paraclavarina and Scapophyllia (Merulinidae). In particular, we address the extreme polyphyly of Favites and Goniastrea that was discovered a decade ago. We sampled 145 specimens belonging to 16 species from a wide geographic range in the Indo‐Pacific, focusing especially on type localities, including the Red Sea, western Indian Ocean and central Pacific. Tree reconstructions based on both nuclear and mitochondrial markers reveal a novel lineage composed of three species previously placed in Favites and Goniastrea. Morphological analyses indicate that this clade, Paragoniastrea Huang, Benzoni & Budd, gen. n., has a unique combination of corallite and subcorallite features observable with scanning electron microscopy and thin sections. Molecular and morphological evidence furthermore indicates that the monotypic genus Paraclavarina is nested within Merulina, and the former is therefore synonymised. |
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