The necessity of DNA taxonomy to reveal cryptic diversity and spatial distribution of meiofauna, with a focus on Nemertea.

ABSTRACT: Meiofauna represent one of the most abundant and diverse communities in marine benthic ecosystems. However, an accurate assessment of diversity at the level of species has been and remains challenging for these microscopic organisms. Therefore, for many taxa, especially the soft body forms such as nemerteans, which often lack clear diagnostic morphological traits, DNA taxonomy is an effective means to assess species diversity. Morphological taxonomy of Nemertea is well documented as complicated by scarcity of unambiguous character states and compromised by diagnoses of a majority of species (and higher clades) being inadequate or based on ambiguous characters and character states. Therefore, recent studies have advocated for the primacy of molecular tools to solve the taxonomy of this grou

SUBMITTER: Leasi F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4122443 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature