PMID: 16641520Apr 28, 2006Paper

Morphological and genetic variation indicate cryptic species within Lamarck's little sea star, Parvulastra (=Patiriella) exigua

The Biological Bulletin
Michael W HartMaria Byrne

Abstract

The asterinid sea star Parvulastra exigua (Lamarck) is a common member of temperate intertidal marine communities from geographically widespread sites around the southern hemisphere. Individuals from Australian populations lay benthic egg masses (through orally directed gonopores) from which nonplanktonic offspring hatch and metamorphose without a dispersing planktonic larval phase. Scattered reports in the taxonomic literature refer to a similar form in southern Africa with aborally directed gonopores (and possibly broadcast spawning of planktonic eggs and larvae); such differences would be consistent with cryptic species variation. Surveys of morphology and mtDNA sequences have revealed cryptic species diversity in other asterinid genera. Here we summarize the taxonomic history of Lamarck's "Astérie exiguë" and survey morphological variation (the location of the gonopores) for evidence that some P. exigua populations include cryptic species with a different mode of reproduction. We found strong evidence for multiple species in the form of two phenotypes and modes of reproduction (oral and aboral gonopore locations) in populations from southern Africa and islands in the Atlantic and Indian oceans. Both modes of reproduction ha...Continue Reading

Citations

Jul 26, 2007·Biology Letters·Michael W Hart, Jennifer Sunday
May 12, 2011·Integrative and Comparative Biology·Alexis M Janosik, Kenneth M Halanych
Apr 5, 2013·Molecular Ecology Resources·Guadalupe Bribiesca-ContrerasAlejandro Zaldívar-Riverón

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