Evolution of column morphology Evolution of column morphology in Aliciidae in Aliciidae

inferred from a molecular phylogeny inferred from a molecular phylogeny

A.L. Crowther*, P. Cartwright*, M. Daly^, & D.G. Fautin*

* The University of Kansas, Dept of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, and the Biodiversity Institute

^ The Ohio State University, Dept of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology

Sea anemones in general

Smooth column

Pedal disc

Circular oral disc

Unbranched tentacles

Photo by N. Barnett (http://www.newt.com/wohler/events/monterey-2005/)

Aliciid features

Vesicles

simple or compound

Unbranched tentacles

Four genera; 11 species

Pseudotentacles

Aliciid diversity

Four genera

Alicia

LebruniaLebrunia

Triactis

PhyllodiscusPhyllodiscus

Evolution of characters - hypotheses

Pseudotentacle evolutionVesicle evolution

Materials and Methods

• 48 samples; 17 from Aliciidae• Genes: complete 28S (3kb), COIII

(650bp), 16S (650bp)• Alignment: MAFFT• Analyses: ML (RAxML), Bayesian

(Mr.Bayes)• Support: 1000 bootstrap replicates,

posterior probabilities• Character reconstructions: Mesquite

Pom-pom sea anemones

Character evolution summary

Pseudotentacle evolution

Vesicle evolution

Acknowledgments• Funding

– NSF CnidToL project– The University of Kansas Graduate School

travel fund– Dept of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology,

The University of Kansas (Travel funds and Ida Hyde research grant)

– Panorama Small Grant Program, The University of Kansas Biodiversity Institute

– Kansas Academy of Science Student Research Grant

– Lerner-Gray Fund for Marine Research (AMNH)

– The University of Kansas General Research Fund

– Smithsonian Short-term visitor scholarship– Caribbean Coral Reef Ecosystems Program,

Belize. • Photos

– David Hall– Reinhard Kikinger– Ria Tan

• People– Luciana C. Gusmão (field buddy and sea

anemone taxonomy discussion buddy)– Fellow KU graduate students: Charles W.

Linkem, Annalise M. Nawrocki, Yisrael Schnytzer, Jeet Sukumaran

– People all over the world who have assisted me with fieldwork (list is too long for this slide)

• Institutions– NUS, Raffles Museum of Biodiversity,

Singapore– Banyan Tree/Angsana resorts, Maldives– CRRF, Palau– CARMABI, Curaçao– McGill Marine Lab, Barbados– Carrie Bow Cay, Belize– Reef Check, Dahab, Egypt– Institute of Marine Science, Zanzibar

Thank you!