Reimer James Davis, Ono Shusuke, Iwama Atsushi, Takishita Kiyotaka, Tsukahara Junzo, Maruyama Tadashi
Research Program for Marine Biology and Ecology, Extremobiosphere Research Center, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), Kanagawa, Japan.
Zoolog Sci. 2006 Mar;23(3):261-75. doi: 10.2108/zsj.23.261.
No clear method of identifying species in the zoanthid genus Zoanthus has been established, due in part to the morphological plasticity of this genus (e.g., in polyp and colony form, oral disk color, tentacle number). Previous research utilizing the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I gene (COI) as a phylogenetic marker indicated that Zoanthus spp. in Japan may consist of only one or two species, despite a bewildering variety of observed morphotypes. Here we have utilized not only COI but also mitochondrial 16S ribosomal DNA (mt 16S rDNA) in order to clarify the extent of Zoanthus species diversity in southern Japan. Our molecular genetic results clearly show the presence of three monophyletic Zoanthus species groups with varying levels of morphological plasticity, including the new species Z. gigantus n. sp. and Z. kuroshio n. sp. We describe all three species found in this study, and identify potential morphological characters (coenenchyme and polyp structure as well as polyp external surface pigmentation patterns) useful in Zoanthus species identification. A morphological dichotomous key is provided to assist in field species identification.
由于珊瑚属（Zoanthus）的形态可塑性（例如，珊瑚虫和群体形态、口盘颜色、触手数量），目前尚未建立明确的鉴定该属物种的方法。先前利用线粒体细胞色素氧化酶I基因（COI）作为系统发育标记的研究表明，尽管观察到的形态类型繁多，但日本的珊瑚属物种可能仅由一两种组成。在这里，我们不仅利用了COI，还利用了线粒体16S核糖体DNA（mt 16S rDNA），以阐明日本南部珊瑚属物种的多样性程度。我们的分子遗传学结果清楚地表明，存在三个具有不同形态可塑性水平的单系珊瑚属物种组，包括新物种巨型珊瑚（Zoanthus gigantus n. sp.）和黑潮珊瑚（Zoanthus kuroshio n. sp.）。我们描述了本研究中发现的所有三个物种，并确定了有助于珊瑚属物种鉴定的潜在形态特征（共肉组织和珊瑚虫结构以及珊瑚虫外表面色素沉着模式）。提供了一个形态二分检索表，以协助野外物种鉴定。
