Tardigrada, Heterotardigrada)
bs_bs_banner Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2013. With 6 figures Congruence between molecular phylogeny and cuticular design in Echiniscoidea (Tardigrada, Heterotardigrada) NOEMÍ GUIL1*, ASLAK JØRGENSEN2, GONZALO GIRIBET FLS3 and REINHARDT MØBJERG KRISTENSEN2 1Department of Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales de Madrid (CSIC), José Gutiérrez Abascal 2, 28006, Madrid, Spain 2Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 15, Copenhagen, Denmark 3Museum of Comparative Zoology, Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, 26 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA Received 21 November 2012; revised 2 September 2013; accepted for publication 9 September 2013 Although morphological characters distinguishing echiniscid genera and species are well understood, the phylogenetic relationships of these taxa are not well established. We thus investigated the phylogeny of Echiniscidae, assessed the monophyly of Echiniscus, and explored the value of cuticular ornamentation as a phylogenetic character within Echiniscus. To do this, DNA was extracted from single individuals for multiple Echiniscus species, and 18S and 28S rRNA gene fragments were sequenced. Each specimen was photographed, and published in an open database prior to DNA extraction, to make morphological evidence available for future inquiries. An updated phylogeny of the class Heterotardigrada is provided, and conflict between the obtained molecular trees and the distribution of dorsal plates among echiniscid genera is highlighted. The monophyly of Echiniscus was corroborated by the data, with the recent genus Diploechiniscus inferred as its sister group, and Testechiniscus as the sister group of this assemblage. Three groups that closely correspond to specific types of cuticular design in Echiniscus have been found with a parsimony network constructed with 18S rRNA data.
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