Meeting Abstract

P3.39  Wednesday, Jan. 6  Phylogenetic relationships of the subclass Hexacorallia (Cnidaria; Anthozoa): an update. GRAJALES, Alejandro*; RODRIGUEZ , Estefania; Richard Gilder Graduate School at the American Museum of Natrual History; American Museum of Natural History agrajales@amnh.org

The subclass Hexacorallia comprises six orders: Actiniaria, Ceriantharia, Antipatharia, Corallimorpharia, Scleractinia and Zoanthidea. Members of this subclass are relevant components and ubiquitous to all marine habitats. Among many others, they play an important role in the maintenance of biodiversity in marine environments, since they act as habitat-providers for other species. Previous phylogenetic studies on the group supported the monophyly of the extant orders, but the relationships among them are still problematic. Over the last years, separate efforts in understanding the phylogenetic relationships among different groups of Hexacorallia produced an increase on the molecular data available; particularly significant improvement has been made in the orders Actiniaria, Antipatharia and Zoanthidea. We review and update the phylogenetic relationships within Hexacorallia using published nuclear and mitochondrial gene sequences and different approaches for construction of phylogenetic hypothesis. Results would be discussed.