Cryptic speciation in pan-tropical sea urchins: a case study of an edge-of-range population of Tripneustes from the Kermadec Islands.

ABSTRACT: Tripneustes is one of the most abundant and ecologically significant tropical echinoids. Highly valued for its gonads, wild populations of Tripneustes are commercially exploited and cultivated stocks are a prime target for the fisheries and aquaculture industry. Here we examine Tripneustes from the Kermadec Islands, a remote chain of volcanic islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean that mark the boundary of the genus' range, by combining morphological and genetic analyses, using two mitochondrial (COI and the Control Region), and one nuclear (bindin) marker. We show that Kermadec Tripneustes is a new species of Tripneustes. We provide a full description of this species and present an updated phylogeny of the genus. This new species, Tripneustes kermadecensis n. sp., is characterized by havi

SUBMITTER: Bronstein O 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5519557 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature