Journal article
Dark offshoot: Phylogenomic data sheds light on the evolutionary history of a new species of cave brittle star
G Bribiesca-Contreras, T Pineda-Enríquez, F Márquez-Borrás, FA Solís-Marín, H Verbruggen, AF Hugall, TD O'Hara
Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution | ACADEMIC PRESS INC ELSEVIER SCIENCE | Published : 2019
Abstract
Caves are a useful system for testing evolutionary and biogeographic hypotheses, as they are isolated, and their environmental conditions have resulted in adaptive selection across different taxa. Although in recent years many more cave species have been discovered, cave-dwelling members of the class Ophiuroidea (brittle stars) remain scarce. Out of the more than two thousand species of brittle stars described to date, only three are regarded as true cave-dwellers. These occurrences represent rare colonising events, compared to other groups that are known to have successfully diversified in these systems. A third species from an anchihaline cave system in the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico, has b..
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Awarded by Australian Research Council
Funding Acknowledgements
TOH, AFH and GBC (partially) received support from the Marine Biodiversity Hub, funded through the National Environmental Research Program (NERP), and administered through the Australian Government's Department of the Environment. GBC received support from the University of Melbourne (MIRS/MIFRS) and the Albert Shimmins Fund. HV was supported by the Australian Research Council (FT110100585). We are grateful to collection managers Alicia Duran (ICML) and Melanie McKenzie (MV); David Paul (MV) for assistance with photography; David Pawson (NMNH) for access to the invertebrates collection; Berenit Gonzalez (ICML) for assistance with SEM; German Yanez for assistance with cave diving.