Rassmussen Sage H, Cowman Peter F, Baird Andrew H, Crosbie Augustine J, Quattrini Andrea M, Bonito Victor, Sinniger Frederic, Harii Saki, Cabaitan Patrick C, Fadli Nur, Tan Chun-Hong, Hung Julia Yun-Hsuan, Rongo Teina, Huang Danwei, Halafihi Tuikolongahau, Bridge Tom C L
Climate Change Cluster, The University of Technology Sydney, Faculty of Science Building 4, Level 6 Harris Street, Ultimo, NSW 2007, Australia.
Biodiversity and Geosciences Program, Queensland Museum Tropics, Townsville, Qld 4811, Australia; and College of Science and Engineering, James Cook University, Townsville, Qld 4811, Australia; and Centre for Tropical Bioinformatics and Molecular Biology, James Cook University, Townsville, Qld 4811, Australia.
Invertebr Syst. 2025 Aug;39. doi: 10.1071/IS24049.
Genomic data have revealed that traditional coral taxonomy based on skeletal morphology does not accurately reflect the true diversity of, or systematic relationships within, the order Scleractinia. Here, we apply an integrated taxonomic approach combining molecular analysis and morphological comparison of type material with specimens collected from across the Indo-Pacific to revise the taxonomy of a clade within the species-rich and ecologically dominant reef coral genus Acropora , which includes the species Acropora hyacinthus (Dana, 1846) and related species (termed the 'hyacinthus species complex'). Using a collection of specimens comprising preserved tissues, field images and skeletal vouchers collected from 22 regions spanning the Indian and Pacific Oceans, we generated a phylogenomic reconstruction using targeted capture of ultraconserved elements (UCEs) and exons, combined with examination of morphological characters, to generate primary species hypotheses (PSHs) for the clade. We then tested PSHs by calling Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNPs) from the genomic dataset to provide additional lines of evidence to support the delineation of species within the clade and revise the taxonomy of the group. Our integrated approach recovered 16 lineages sufficiently delineated to be designated as distinct species. Based on comparison of our specimens to type material and geographical distributions, we remove nine species from synonymy: A. turbinata (Verrrill, 1864), A. surculosa (Dana, 1846), A. patella (Studer, 1878), A. flabelliformis (Milne-Edwards, 1860), A. conferta (Quelch, 1886), A pectinata (Brook, 1892), A. recumbens (Brook, 1892), A. sinensis (Brook, 1893) and A. bifurcata Nemenzo, 1971. We also describe five new species: A. harriottae sp. nov. from south-eastern Australia, A. tersa sp. nov. from eastern Australia and the Western Pacific, A. nyinggulu sp. nov. from the eastern Indian Ocean, Indo-Australian Archipelago and southern Japan, A. uogi sp. nov. from the western Pacific and A. kalindae sp. nov. from north-eastern Australia. Our data reveal that the species richness within this clade of Acropora is far greater than currently assumed due to both overlooked provincialism across the Indo-Pacific as well as lumping of distinct sympatric species based on superficial morphological similarity. Given the key ecological role tabular Acropora play on Indo-Pacific reefs our findings have significant implications for reef conservation and management, for example, A. harriottae sp. nov. is restricted to a small geographical region of south-eastern Australia and is therefore at comparatively high risk of extinction. ZooBank: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:6C42546C-9253-4639-9FF4-D8D80808D78C.
基因组数据显示，基于骨骼形态的传统珊瑚分类法并不能准确反映石珊瑚目内的真实多样性或系统发育关系。在此，我们采用一种综合分类方法，将分子分析与模式标本及从印度 - 太平洋地区采集的标本的形态比较相结合，以修订物种丰富且在生态上占主导地位的造礁珊瑚属鹿角珊瑚中一个分支的分类，该分支包括风信子鹿角珊瑚（Dana，1846）及相关物种（称为“风信子物种复合体”）。我们利用从印度洋和太平洋的22个区域收集的包含保存组织、野外图像和骨骼标本的样本集，通过靶向捕获超保守元件（UCEs）和外显子生成系统发育基因组重建，并结合形态特征检查，为该分支生成主要物种假说（PSHs）。然后，我们通过从基因组数据集中调用单核苷酸多态性（SNP）来检验PSHs，以提供额外的证据支持该分支内物种的划分并修订该类群的分类。我们的综合方法识别出16个谱系，它们足以被指定为不同的物种。基于我们的标本与模式标本的比较以及地理分布，我们将9个物种从同物异名中移除：陀螺鹿角珊瑚（Verrrill，1864）、匐枝鹿角珊瑚（Dana，1846）、髌骨鹿角珊瑚（Studer，1878）、扇形鹿角珊瑚（Milne - Edwards，1860）、密枝鹿角珊瑚（Quelch，1886）、栉齿鹿角珊瑚（Brook，1892）、平卧鹿角珊瑚（Brook，1892）、中华鹿角珊瑚（Brook，1893）和二叉鹿角珊瑚Nemenzo，1971。我们还描述了5个新物种：来自澳大利亚东南部的哈氏鹿角珊瑚新种、来自澳大利亚东部和西太平洋的平滑鹿角珊瑚新种、来自印度洋东部、印度 - 澳大利亚群岛和日本南部的宁古鲁鹿角珊瑚新种、来自西太平洋的宇木鹿角珊瑚新种以及来自澳大利亚东北部的卡琳达鹿角珊瑚新种。我们的数据表明，由于整个印度 - 太平洋地区被忽视的地方特有性以及基于表面形态相似性对不同同域物种的归并，该鹿角珊瑚分支内的物种丰富度远高于目前的假设。鉴于板叶鹿角珊瑚在印度 - 太平洋珊瑚礁上的关键生态作用，我们的发现对珊瑚礁保护和管理具有重要意义，例如，哈氏鹿角珊瑚新种仅限于澳大利亚东南部的一个小地理区域，因此面临相对较高的灭绝风险。动物学分类号：urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:6C42546C - 9253 - 4639 - 9FF4 - D8D80808D78C。
