The Taxonomy and Molecular Phylogeny of Solitary Ascidians Genus Polycarpa (Stolidobranchia: Styelidae) in Taiwan

Autor: Tsai-Ming Lu, 呂在明
Rok vydání: 2007
Druh dokumentu: 學位論文 ; thesis
Popis: 95
The species of Polycarpa (Stolidobranchia: Styelidae) are solitary ascidians that generally occur on the surface of coral reefs or rocks in tropical and subtropical shallow waters. They are important members in marine sessile communities because their leathery tunic provides habitats for other organisms, such as bivalves, polychaetes, echinoderms and other ascidians. There are about 40 species of Polycarpa worldwide, but only one species is previously recorded in Taiwan. The objectives of this study are to explore Polycarpa species diversity in Taiwan and to infer their molecular phylogeny. In total, 102 individuals of 5 Polycarpa species were collected from northern and southern Taiwan in 2005 and 2006. Among them, 4 Polycarpa species are newly recorded in Taiwan. Partial mitochondrial cytochrome C oxidase subunit I (COI) and the nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer (ITS) DNA sequences were amplified and sequenced. These sequences were applied to phylogenetic reconstruction using neighbor joining, maximum parsimony, maximum likelihood, and Bayesian methods. The topologies of phylogenetic trees reconstructed by four methods are similar. Based on the phylogeny of Polycarpa, there are two major findings: (1) brooding mode of reproduction in the Polycarpa species have evolved independently; (2) there may be a cryptic species within the Polycarpa rima complex.
Databáze: Networked Digital Library of Theses & Dissertations