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Phylogeny of Polycladida (Platyhelminthes) based on mtDNA data

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Abstract

A phylogenetic analysis of Polycladida based on two partial mitochondrial genes (cox1 and 16S) is provided. The analysis includes 30 polyclad terminals that represent species from the two taxa which traditionally divide the groups Cotylea and Acotylea. Our phylogenetic analyses produced a well-supported hypothesis that confirms the monophyly of Polycladida, as well as Acotylea and Cotylea. Within Acotylea, there are two lineages not highly supported: on one hand, Leptoplanoidea (excluding Hoploplana elisabelloi) and one Stylochoidea member (Pseudostylochus intermedius) (classification sensu Faubel, 1983, 1984), and on the other hand, Stylochoidea members together with Discocelis tigrina and H. elisabelloi. The genera Stylochus and Imogine are not monophyletic. Within Cotylea, Pseudocerotidae and Euryleptidae are monophyletic, though not highly supported, while Prosthiostomidae is not. Euryleptoidea is paraphyletic. The genera Pseudobiceros and Pseudoceros are monophyletic and highly supported. Our results suggest that, within Acotylea, the prostatoid organs of Discocelis may have been derived from a prostatic vesicle. The genus Hoploplana could be included in Stylochoidea. Within Cotylea, the common ancestor of Euryleptidae and Pseudocerotidae might have been an aposematic animal with tentacles.

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Acknowledgements

We are very grateful to Fernando Angel Fernández-Álvarez for kindly sending material of Imogine fafai, and Torsten H. Struck (University of Oslo) for sending material of Stylochoplana and Leptoplana collected in Helgoland, Germany. Specimens from Galicia were collected by Jacinto Perez and the Grupo de Estudo do Medio Mariño (GEMM). Material from Lizard Island was collected during the Polychaetes Workshop 2013, funded by The Lizard Island Research Foundation, permit number G12/35718.1 issued by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority to Dr. Hutchings, Australian Museum. We are very grateful to Pat Hutchings, Elena Kupriyanova, María Capa and Anna Murray for their help collecting, registering and loaning material and to Alexander Semenov for the picture of Pseudoceros paralaticlavus. We acknowledge Anna Maria Addamo (MNCN), Agostina Vertino (UNIMIB), Silvia Spezzaferri (UNIFR), Andy Wheeler (UCC) and Commander, crew and scientific party of the Moira Mound EUROFLEETS cruise aboard the Belgica R/V, funded by the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013), under the Eurofleets grant agreement no. 228344.

Funding

This project was supported by the Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (CSIC), the Spanish MEC and the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid and funded by project CGL2011-29916, PI: Cristina Grande; and CGL2015-63593-P supported by the MINECO/FEDER, UE funds, PI: M. Teresa Aguado. Christoph Bleidorn is a “Ramon y Cajal” fellow supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Education (MEC) (RYC-2014-15615).

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Author notes

  1. D. Marquina

    Present address: Department of Bioinformatics and Genetics, Swedish Museum of Natural History, SE-10405, Stockholm, Sweden

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Biología, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Cantoblanco, 28049, Madrid, Spain

    M. T. Aguado & C. Grande

  2. Departamento de Biodiversidad y Biología Evolutiva, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (CSIC), c/ José Gutierrez Abascal 2, 28006, Madrid, Spain

    C. Noreña, L. Alcaraz, D. Marquina & C. Bleidorn

  3. División Zoología Invertebrados, Museo de La Plata (FCNyM-UNLP), Paseo del Bosque s/n, La Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    F. Brusa & C. Damborenea

  4. CONICET. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    F. Brusa & C. Damborenea

  5. Grupo de Estudo do Medio Mariño (GEMM), Puerto Deportivo s/n, 15960, Ribeira, A Coruña, Spain

    B. Almon

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Fig. 1

Phylogenetic hypothesis after BI analyses of combined data set. Posterior probability support values below nodes. (PDF 155 kb)

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Aguado, M.T., Noreña, C., Alcaraz, L. et al. Phylogeny of Polycladida (Platyhelminthes) based on mtDNA data. Org Divers Evol 17, 767–778 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13127-017-0344-4

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