Meeting Abstract

41.4  Friday, Jan. 4  Molecular phylogeny of the Thalassinidea based on nuclear and mitochondrial genes ROBLES, R.*; TUDGE, C.C.; DWORSCHAK, P.C.; POORE, G.C.B.; FELDER, D.L.; University of Louisiana at Lafayette rxr8359@louisiana.edu

We conducted a molecular based phylogenetic analysis of the thalassinidean families Axianassidae, Axiidae, Callianassidae, Callianideidae, Calocarididae, Ctenochelidae, Laomediidae, Micheleidae, Strahlaxiidae, Thalassinidae, Thomassiniidae, and Upogebiidae. Our analysis is based on two complete datasets, one corresponding to a partial fragment of the 16S mitochondrial gene and a second to a partial fragment of the 18S nuclear gene. Outcomes are compared to those obtained by Poore (1994), Tudge et al. (2000), and Tudge and Cunningham (2002); the former was based solely on morphology while the later was based on molecular data but included only 5 families. Morphological characters that support our molecularly based clades can be readily identified, providing support for resultant phylogenetic trees. Partial analyses of the thalassinidean families and subfamilies have been completed for two additional mitochondrial genes, 12S and COI, which are especially informative at lower phylogenetic levels. Relationships within families are more clearly resolved with their addition and allow us to reevalutate aforementioned findings from morphological studies. Our project will base molecular phylogenetic analysis of the Thalassinidea on roughly 1800 nuclear and 1500 mitochondrial characters, incorporating about 30 genera and 50 species into the analysis, while concurrently constructing morphologically based trees with these same taxa(supported under NSF/AToL EF-0531603).