Integration of Morphological Data into Molecular Phylogenetic Analysis: Toward the Identikit of the Stylasterid Ancestor

Stylasteridae is a hydroid family including 29 worldwide-distributed genera, all provided with a calcareous skeleton. They are abundant in shallow and deep waters and represent an important component of marine communities. In the present paper, we studied the evolution of ten morphological character...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2016-08, Vol.11 (8), p.e0161423-e0161423
Main Authors: Puce, Stefania, Pica, Daniela, Schiaparelli, Stefano, Negrisolo, Enrico
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Analysis
Animals
Biological Evolution
Biology and Life Sciences
Calyptopora
Cnidaria
Computer and Information Sciences
Data processing
Deep water
Deoxyribonucleic acid
Developmental biology
Distichopora
DNA
DNA - genetics
Evolution
Genera
Hydractiniidae
Hydrozoa
Hydrozoa - anatomy & histology
Hydrozoa - genetics
Information processing
Morphology
Phylogenetics
Phylogeny
Physiological aspects
Plastics
Polyps
Polyps (organisms)
Research and Analysis Methods
Reversion
Scanning microscopy
Sporadopora
Stylaster
Stylasteridae
Taxonomy
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Summary:Stylasteridae is a hydroid family including 29 worldwide-distributed genera, all provided with a calcareous skeleton. They are abundant in shallow and deep waters and represent an important component of marine communities. In the present paper, we studied the evolution of ten morphological characters, currently used in stylasterid taxonomy, using a phylogenetic approach. Our results indicate that stylasterid morphology is highly plastic and that many events of independent evolution and reversion have occurred. Our analysis also allows sketching a possible identikit of the stylasterid ancestor. It had calcareous skeleton, reticulate-granular coenosteal texture, polyps randomly arranged, gastrostyle, and dactylopore spines, while lacking a gastropore lip and dactylostyles. If the ancestor had single or double/multiple chambered gastropore tube is uncertain. These data suggest that the ancestor was similar to the extant genera Cyclohelia and Stellapora. Our investigation is the first attempt to integrate molecular and morphological information to clarify the stylasterid evolutionary scenario and represents the first step to infer the stylasterid ancestor morphology.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0161423