Skip to main content
Publications | Persons | Institutes | Projects
[ report an error in this record ]basket (1): add | show Print this page

one publication added to basket [337410]
ITS1 variation among Stichopathes cf. maldivensis (Hexacorallia: Antipatharia) whip black corals unveils conspecificity and population connectivity at local and global scales across the Indo-Pacific
Terrana, L.; Flot, J.-F.; Eeckhaut, I. (2021). ITS1 variation among Stichopathes cf. maldivensis (Hexacorallia: Antipatharia) whip black corals unveils conspecificity and population connectivity at local and global scales across the Indo-Pacific. Coral Reefs 40(2): 521-533. https://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s00338-020-02049-8
In: Coral Reefs. Springer: Berlin; Heidelberg; New York. ISSN 0722-4028; e-ISSN 1432-0975, more
Peer reviewed article  

Available in  Authors 

Keywords
    Antipatharia [WoRMS]; Stichopathes maldivensis Cooper, 1903 [WoRMS]
    Marine/Coastal
Author keywords
    Stichopathes; Antipatharians; Madagascar; Indo-Pacific; ITS; rDNA

Authors  Top 

Abstract
    Due to the dearth of molecular markers variable enough to distinguish species of black corals, species delimitation in Antipatharia is still mainly based on morphological traits. One of the few markers available, the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region located in ribosomal DNA, has already been used several times to infer phylogenetic relationships among antipatharians. However, this region was never considered in population-scale studies of shallow-water black corals till now. Here, we sampled two phenotypic variants of 41 specimens of the shallow-water antipatharian Stichopathes cf. maldivensis along the SW of Madagascar. The sampling area represents 200 km of shore and encompasses the runoffs of three rivers. We used direct sequencing to determine the main ITS1 types present in the genomes of the collected specimens and retrieved sequences from GenBank for Indonesian specimens. Then, we constructed a haploweb to visualize possible species boundaries using the criterion of mutual allelic exclusivity. With this method, we confirm that the previously described phenotypic variants belong to a single species that apparently extends from Indonesia to Madagascar. Likewise, the three rivers that pour freshwater in southwestern Madagascar do not appear to act as a barrier for the larval dispersal of this species. This study highlights the usefulness of ITS markers within antipatharians at both species and population levels.

All data in the Integrated Marine Information System (IMIS) is subject to the VLIZ privacy policy Top | Authors