Department of Biological Sciences, Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo, Hongo 7-3-1, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan.
Mol Phylogenet Evol. 2011 Nov;61(2):392-9. doi: 10.1016/j.ympev.2011.07.003. Epub 2011 Jul 21.
The existing taxonomy of Euryalida, one of the two orders of the Ophiuroidea (Echinodermata), is uncertain and characterized by controversial delimitation of taxonomic ranks from genus to family-level. Their phylogeny was not studied in detail until now. We investigated a dataset of sequence from a mitochondrial gene (16S rRNA) and two nucleic genes (18S rRNA and 28S rRNA) for 49 euryalid ophiuroids and four outgroup species from the order Ophiurida. The monophyly of the order Euryalida was supported as was the monophyly of Asteronychidae, Gorgonocephalidae and an Asteroschematidae+Euryalidae clade. However, the group currently known as the Asteroschematidae was paraphyletic with respect to the Euryalidae. The Asteroschematidae+Euryalidae clade, which we recognise as an enlarged Euryalidae, contains three natural groups: the Asteroschematinae (Asteroschema and Ophiocreas), a new subfamily Astrocharinae (Astrocharis) and the Euryalinae with remaining genera. These subfamilies can be distinguished by internal ossicle morphology.
现存的 Euryalida 分类群（Ophiuroidea 两个目之一）不确定，其分类单元从属到科级的划分具有争议性。直到现在，它们的系统发育才被详细研究。我们调查了来自 Ophiurida 目的 49 种 Euryalida 蛇尾类和四个外群物种的线粒体基因（16S rRNA）和两个核酸基因（18S rRNA 和 28S rRNA）的数据集。Euryalida 目的单系性得到了支持，Asteronychidae、Gorgonocephalidae 和 Asteroschematidae+Euryalidae 分支的单系性也得到了支持。然而，目前被称为 Asteroschematidae 的群体相对于 Euryalidae 是并系的。我们认为扩大的 Euryalidae 包含三个自然群体：Asteroschematinae（Asteroschema 和 Ophiocreas）、一个新的 Astrocharinae 亚科（Astrocharis）和剩余属的 Euryalinae。这些亚科可以通过内部骨片形态来区分。
