Nataliya Budaeva
Associate Professor
Department of Natural History
University Museum of Bergen, Norway
Phylogeny and systematics of Onuphidae (Annelida)
Supporetd by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (grant 10-04-01687), a Marie Curie International Incoming Fellowship and the Research Council of Norway (top-up finding of Marie Curie fellows)
The first molecular phylogeny of Onuphidae based on the combined analyses of nuclear (18S rDNA) and mitochondrial (16S rDNA) genes was recently published.
Budaeva N., Schepetov D., Zanol J., Neretina T., Willassen E. 2016. When molecules support morphology: Phylogenetic reconstruction of the family Onuphidae (Eunicida, Annelida) based on 16S rDNA and 18S rDNA. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 94(B): 791–801. Open Access
Results of Bayesian and Maximum Likelihood analyses supported the monophyly of Onuphidae and its traditional subdivision into two monophyletic subfamilies: Onuphinae and Hyalinoeciinae. Ten of 22 recognized genera were monophyletic with strong node support; four more genera included in this study were either monotypic or represented by a single species. None of the genera appeared para- or polyphyletic and this indicates a strong congruence between the traditional morphology-based systematics of the family and the newly obtained molecular-based phylogenetic reconstructions.
Different life styles in Onuphidae: epibenthic crawlers (Anchinothria - An, Hyalinoecia - Hy, Leptoecia - Le, Nothria - No); ambush predators (Rhamphorachium - Rh); infaunal deposit-feeders (Kinbergonuphis - Ki, Onuphis - On, Paradiopatra - Pa), motile scavengers (Australonuphis - Au); omnivores (Americonuphis - Am, Diopatra - Di, Protodiopatra - Pt).
