Meeting Abstract

41.3  Friday, Jan. 4  Phylogeny of the Infraorder Caridea based on Mitochondrial and Nuclear Genes (Crustacea: Decapoda) BRACKEN, H.D.*; DE GRAVE, S.; FELDER, D.L.; University of Louisiana at Lafayette heather.bracken@gmail.com

Shrimps of the infraorder Caridea occur commonly throughout marine and freshwater habitats. Despite general familiarity of the group, phylogenetic relationships within the infraorder remain controversial. While a few studies have focused specifically on the classification and evolutionary history within the Caridea, they have relied entirely on morphological characters and suggest conflicting patterns of phylogenetic relationships. Robust molecular analysis is required to test current hypotheses. We used nuclear and mitochondrial genes to conduct a phylogenetic analysis on selected species representing 30 families of the Caridea. Bayesian, likelihood and parsimony analyses were conducted on 950-bp sequences of the partial 16s and 12s mitochondrial genes and 1950-bp sequences of the complete 18s nuclear gene. Results indicate congruence with preconceived classifications, especially within the family Pandalidae and superfamily Palaemonoidea. Ogyrididae is resolved as a sister clade to the Alpheidae, as has been previously suggested. However, early data suggest polyphyletic relationships among genera within the families Pasiphaeidae, Oplophoridae and Hippolytidae. Preliminary results in some cases confirmed and in others rejected the placement of controversial taxa within higher-level taxonomy, and show potential for resolving current debates surrounding the classification within the Caridea (supported under NSF/AToL EF-0531603).