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13 August 2021 Molecular systematics of Thouarella (Octocorallia : Primnoidae) with the description of three new species from the Southern Ocean based on combined molecular and morphological evidence
Mónica Núñez-Flores, Daniel Gomez-Uchida, Pablo J. López-González
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Abstract

Thouarella Gray, 1870, is one of the most speciose genera among gorgonians of the family Primnoidae (Cnidaria : Octocorallia : Anthozoa), being remarkably diverse in the Antarctic and sub-Antarctic seafloor. However, their diversity in the Southern Ocean is likely underestimated. Phylogenetic analyses of mitochondrial and nuclear DNA markers were integrated with species delimitation approaches as well as morphological colonial and polyps features and skeletal SEM examinations to describe and illustrate three new species within Thouarella, from the Weddell Sea, Southern Ocean: T. amundseni sp. nov., T. dolichoespinosa sp. nov. and T. pseudoislai sp. nov. Our species delimitation results suggest, for the first time, the potential presence of Antarctic and sub-Antarctic cryptic species of primnoids, based on the likely presence of sibling species within T. undulata and T. crenelata. With the three new species here described, the global diversity of Thouarella has increased to 41 species, 15 of which are endemic to the Antarctic and sub-Antarctic waters. Consequently, our results provide new steps for uncovering the shelf benthonic macrofauna’s hidden diversity in the Southern Ocean. Finally, we recommend using an integrative taxonomic framework in this group of organisms and species delimitation approaches because the distinctions between some Thouarella species based only on a superficial examination of their macro- and micromorphological features is, in many cases, limited.

© CSIRO 2021
Mónica Núñez-Flores, Daniel Gomez-Uchida, and Pablo J. López-González "Molecular systematics of Thouarella (Octocorallia : Primnoidae) with the description of three new species from the Southern Ocean based on combined molecular and morphological evidence," Invertebrate Systematics 35(6), 655-674, (13 August 2021). https://doi.org/10.1071/IS20078
Received: 30 October 2020; Accepted: 13 January 2021; Published: 13 August 2021
KEYWORDS
Antarctic marine biodiversity
Integrative taxonomy
species delimitation
Weddell Sea
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