Meeting Abstract

P3.114  Saturday, Jan. 5  PHYLOGENY OF ACHELATA LOBSTERS PALERO, F*; CRANDALL, K; MACPHERSON, E; ABELL�, P; PASCUAL, M; Univ. of Barcelona; BYU; CEAB-CSIC, Blanes; CMIMA-CSIC, Barcelona; Univ. of Barcelona ferranpalero@ub.edu

The Achelata lobsters (spiny, slipper and coral lobsters) are decapod crustaceans characterized by the presence of a particular larva specially adapted to dispersal, the phyllosoma. Even though the monophyly of the Achelata group is generally accepted, relationships among families are not clear. The evolutionary relationships remain unknown among genus and among species. In order to solve the relationships within the genus Palinurus, all the described species were included in the analysis, while a total of 7 genera were sampled to solve the relationships at the family level. The results of Tam and Kornfeld (1998) suggest that scyllarids and palinurids are sister taxa relative to Nephropidae (clawed lobsters), consequently, Homarus and Nephrops were used as outgroups in the present study. Both nuclear (18S, 28S and H3) and mitochondrial (16S and COI) gene regions were sequenced in a total of 14 achelata species. Data for each gene region were aligned and analysed separately and all combined as a partitioned dataset. The combined dataset had a total length of 5kb. Different methods were used to reconstruct the phylogeny, including maximum parsimony, maximum likelihood, networking and bayesian inference. The most parsimonious tree was not in agreement either with the ML-tree nor the MAP-tree, which could be explained by the incapacity of MP to solve deep-phylogenetic relationships using molecular data. Bootstrap values and Bayesian consensus values were consistent across the analyses in supporting a Jasus / Projasus clade, the monophyly of the Panulirus-Palinurus clade and the monophyly of Scyllaridae and Palinuridae. Finally, relationships within Palinurus were studied, with a Northern-to-Southern rapid speciation process being found.