Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The Parazoanthidae (Hexacorallia: Zoantharia) DNA taxonomy: description of two new genera

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Marine Biodiversity Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The taxonomy of the hexacorallian order Zoantharia is very problematic due to the lack of easily accessible and informative morphological taxonomic characters. This is particularly true in the widespread family Parazoanthidae, members of which use a wide variety of different organisms as substrates. Recently, DNA-based studies have proven to be of great use in clarifying relationships among Parazoanthidae. Here we reconsider Parazoanthidae taxonomy based on analyses of multiple molecular markers [mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 (COI), 16S ribosomal DNA (mt 16S rDNA), and the nuclear internal transcribed spacer region (ITS rDNA)], coupled with ecological and morphological characteristics. Two new genera are described in this study: Hydrozoanthus n. gen. within the new family Hydrozoanthidae, and Antipathozoanthus n. gen in the family Parazoanthidae. The genetic data further suggest that the revised genus Parazoanthus is still polyphyletic and is composed of three distinctive subclades. However, as currently these subclades can essentially be differentiated by genetic data, these subclades should remain within Parazoanthus until further molecular, ecological and morphological studies help to clarify their status and relationships to each other.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2a–j
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Arndt W, Pax F (1936) Das Zusammenleben von Krustenanemonen und schwämmen im Mittelmeer, mit besonderer Berücksichtigung der Adria. Thalassia 2:1–34

    Google Scholar 

  • Carlgren O (1923) Ceriantharia und Zoantharia der Deutschen Tiefsee-Expedition. Dt Tiefsee-Exped 19:243–337

    Google Scholar 

  • Carlgren O (1924) Die larven der Ceriantharien, Zoantharien und Actiniarien der deutschen Tiefsee-expedition mit einen Nachtrag zu den Zoantharien. Wiss Ergebn Dt Tiefsee-Exped 19:339–476

    Google Scholar 

  • Crocker LA, Reiswig HM (1981) Host specificity in sponge-encrusting Zoanthidea (Anthozoa: Zoantharia) of Barbados, West Indies. Mar Biol 65:231–236

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Daly M, Brugler MR, Cartwright P, Collins AG, Dawson MN, Fautin DG, France SC, McFadden CS, Opresko DM, Rodriguez E, Romano SL, Stake JL (2007) The phylum Cnidaria: a review of phylogenetic patterns and diversity 300 years after Linnaeus. Zootaxa 1668:127–182

    Google Scholar 

  • DiCamillo CG, Bo M, Puce S, Bavestrello G (2009) Association between Dentitheca habereri (Cnidaria: Hydrozoa) and two zoanthids. Ital J Zool. doi:10.1080/11250000902740962

    Google Scholar 

  • Duerden J (1900) Jamaican Actiniaria. Part 2: Stichodactylinae and Zoantheae. Sci Trans R Dublin Soc 7:133–208

    Google Scholar 

  • Folmer O, Black M, Hoeh W, Lutz R, Vrijenhoek R (1994) DNA primers for amplification of mitochondrial c oxidase subunit I from diverse metazoan invertebrates. Mol Mar Biol Biotechnol 3:294–299

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Guindon S, Gascuel O (2003) A simple, fast, and accurate algorithm to estimate large phylogenies by maximum likelihood. Syst Biol 52:696–704

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Haddon AC, Shackleton AM (1891) A revision of the British Actiniae, Part 2. The zoanthae. Sci Trans R Dublin Soc 4:609–672

    Google Scholar 

  • Hall TA (1999) BioEdit: a user-friendly biological sequence alignement editor and analysis program for Windows 95/98/NT. Nucleic Acids Symp Ser 41:95–98

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Herberts C (1972) Etude systématique de quelques zoanthaires tempérés et tropicaux. Téhtys Suppl 3:69–156

    Google Scholar 

  • Huang D, Meier R, Todd PA, Chou LM (2008) Slow mitochondrial COI sequence evolution at the base of the metazoan tree and its implications for DNA barcoding. J Mol Evol 66:167–174

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lwowsky F (1913) Revision der Gattung Sidisia Gray (Epizoanthus auct.). Ein Beitrag zur Kenntnis der Zoanthiden. Zool Jb Abt f Syst 34:557–614

    Google Scholar 

  • Ocaña O, Brito A (2003) A review of Gerardiidae (Anthozoa: Zoantharia) from the Macaronesian islands and the Mediterranean Sea with the description of a new species. Rev Acad Canar Cienc 15:159–189

    Google Scholar 

  • Ocaña O, Brito A, Gonzalez G, Herrera R (2007) Additions in relation to Gerardiidae from the Macaronesian waters and the Mediterranean Sea (Anthozoa: Zoantharia). Vieraea 35:163–168

    Google Scholar 

  • Philipp NA, Fautin DG (2009) Three new species of shallow water, yellow zoanthids (Hexacorallia: Zoanthidea: Epizoanthidae) from southern California, USA and southern Australia. Zootaxa 2058:53–61

    Google Scholar 

  • Reimer JD, Takishita K, Ono S, Maruyama T, Tsukahara J (2006) Latitudinal and intracolony ITS-rDNA sequence variation in the symbiotic dinoflagellate genus Symbiodinium (Dinophyceae) in Zoanthus sansibaricus (Anthozoa: Hexacorallia). Phycol Res 54:122–132

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Reimer JD, Hirano S, Fujiwara Y, Sinniger F, Maruyama T (2007a) Morphological and molecular characterization of Abyssoanthus nankaiensis, a new family, new genus and new species of deep-sea zoanthid (Anthozoa: Hexacorallia: Zoantharia) from a northwest Pacific methane cold seep. Invert Syst 21:255–262

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Reimer JD, Takishita K, Ono S, Maruyama T (2007b) Diversity and evolution in the zoanthid genus Palythoa (Cnidaria: Hexacorallia) utilizing nuclear ITS-rDNA. Coral Reefs 26:399–410

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reimer JD, Takishita K, Ono S, Tsukahara J, Maruyama T (2007c) Molecular evidence suggesting intraspecific hybridization in Zoanthus (Anthozoa: Hexacorallia). Zool Sci 24:346–359

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Reimer JD, Nonaka M, Sinniger F, Iwase F (2008a) Morphological and molecular characterization of a new genus and new species of parazoanthid (Anthozoa: Hexacorallia: Zoantharia) associated with Japanese red coral (Paracorallium japonicum) in southern Japan. Coral Reefs 27:935–949

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reimer JD, Sinniger F, Hickmann CP Jr (2008b) Zoanthid diversity (Anthozoa: Hexacorallia) in the Galapagos Islands: a molecular examination. Coral Reefs 27:641–654. doi:10.2007/s00338-008-0376-5

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ronquist F, Huelsenbeck JP (2003) Bayesian phylogenetic inference under mixed models. Bioinformatics (Oxf) 19:1572–1574

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ryland JS, Lancaster JE (2003) Revision of methods for separating species of Protopalythoa (Hexacorallia: Zoanthidea) in the tropical West Pacific. Invert Syst 17:407–428

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schmidt O (1862) Die Spongien des Adriatischen Meeres. Verlag von Wilhelm Engelmann, Leipzig

    Google Scholar 

  • Shearer TL, Van Oppen MJH, Romano SL, Woerheide G (2002) Slow mitochondrial DNA sequence evolution in the Anthozoa (Cnidaria). Mol Ecol 11:2475–2487

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sinniger F, Häussermann V (2009) Zoanthids (Cnidaria: Hexacorallia: Zoantharia) from shallow waters of the southern Chilean fjord region, with descriptions of a new genus and two new species. Org Div Evol 9:23–36

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sinniger F, Montoya-Burgoss JI, Chevaldonne P, Pawlowski J (2005) Phylogeny of the order Zoantharia (Anthozoa, Hexacorallia) based on mitochondrial ribosomal genes. Mar Biol 147:1121–1128

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Swain TD (2009) Isozoanthus antumbrosus, a new species of zoanthid (Cnidaria: Anthozoa: Zoanthidea) symbiotic with Hydrozoa from the Caribbean, with a key to hydroid and sponge-symbiotic zoanthid species. Zootaxa 2051:41–48

    Google Scholar 

  • Swain TD, Wulff JL (2007) Diversity and specificity of Caribbean sponge-zoanthid symbioses: a foundation for understanding the adaptive significance of symbioses and generating hypotheses about higher-order systematics. Biol J Lin Soc 92:695–711

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thompson JD, Gibson TJ, Plewniak F, Jeanmougin F, Higgins DG (1997) The ClustalX windows interface: flexible strategies for multiple sequence alignement aided by quality analysis tools. Nucleic Acids Res 25:4876–4882

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • West DA (1979) Symbiotic zoanthids (Anthozoa: Cnidaria) of Puerto Rico. Bull Mar Sci 29:253–271

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Prof. Louisette Zaninetti for her constant support of this research, Dr. Helmut Zibrowius for his naturalist advice, Dr. Bertrand Richer de Forges and Prof. Claude Payri in IRD-Noumea, Pierre Chevaldonné and all the collectors mentioned in the text and Table S1 for providing samples. Sample collection was also supported by Kykeion S.A., Geneva and Tiéti dive club in Poindimié, New Caledonia. This research was supported by the “Fonds Lombard” for the collecting mission in Madagascar, the Swiss Academy of Sciences (SCNAT) and the “Basler Stiftung fur Biologische Forschung” for the collecting mission in New Caledonia. F.S. was financially supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation and the Rectors’ Conference of the Swiss Universities (CRUS) and by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science. J.D.R. was supported by funding from the Fujiwara Natural History Foundation, the 21st Century COE Program and the Rising Star Program for Subtropical Island Sciences at the University of the Ryukyus.

All the experiments reported in this study complied with the laws of the countries in which they were performed.

Author information

Author notes

  1. Frederic Sinniger

    Present address: Department of Oceanography, Florida State University, OSB, 117 N. Woodward Ave., Tallahassee, FL, 32306, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, Biology and Marine Science, Faculty of Science, University of the Ryukyus, 1 Senbaru, Nishihara, Okinawa, 903-0213, Japan

    Frederic Sinniger

  2. Department of Zoology and Animal Biology, Molecular Systematic Group, University of Geneva, Science III, 30 quai Ernest-Ansermet, 1211, Genève 4, Switzerland

    Frederic Sinniger & Jan Pawlowski

  3. Centre d’Océanologie de Marseille, Université de la Méditerranée, UMR CNRS 6540 DIMAR, Station Marine d’Endoume, rue de la Batterie des Lions, 13007, Marseille, France

    Frederic Sinniger

  4. Rising Star Program, Transdisciplinary Research Organization for Subtropical and Island Studies, University of the Ryukyus, 1 Senbaru, Nishihara, Okinawa, 903-0213, Japan

    James D. Reimer

  5. Marine Biodiversity Research Program, Institute of Biogeosciences, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), 2-15 Natsushima,Yokosuka, Kanagawa, 237-0061, Japan

    James D. Reimer

Authors
  1. Frederic Sinniger
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. James D. Reimer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Jan Pawlowski
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Frederic Sinniger.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

ESM 1

(DOC 152 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Sinniger, F., Reimer, J.D. & Pawlowski, J. The Parazoanthidae (Hexacorallia: Zoantharia) DNA taxonomy: description of two new genera. Mar Biodiv 40, 57–70 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12526-009-0034-3

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12526-009-0034-3

Keywords

Search

Navigation