Spaghetti to a Tree: A Robust Phylogeny for Terebelliformia (Annelida) Based on Transcriptomes, Molecular and Morphological Data.

ABSTRACT: Terebelliformia-"spaghetti worms" and their allies-are speciose and ubiquitous marine annelids but our understanding of how their morphological and ecological diversity evolved is hampered by an uncertain delineation of lineages and their phylogenetic relationships. Here, we analyzed transcriptomes of 20 terebelliforms and an outgroup to build a robust phylogeny of the main lineages grounded on 12,674 orthologous genes. We then supplemented this backbone phylogeny with a denser sampling of 121 species using five genes and 90 morphological characters to elucidate fine-scale relationships. The monophyly of six major taxa was supported: Pectinariidae, Ampharetinae, Alvinellidae, Trichobranchidae, Terebellidae and Melinninae. The latter, traditionally a subfamily of Ampharetidae, was unexpecte

SUBMITTER: Stiller J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7236012 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature