Morphological convergence of the coral skeleton
Morphological convergence of the coral skeleton
Turbinoliidae are a group of solitary scleractinian corals (suborder Refertina) with small conical coralla, entirely enclosed by soft tissue during the coral’s life. Analysis of the mitochondrial and nuclear genomes of the newly described genus Dennantotrochus, which exhibits macromorphology typical of Deltocyathidae (suborder Vacatina), fully supports its phylogenetic relationships with turbinoliids. This finding highlights an extreme case of macromorphological skeletal convergence in Scleractinia.
Figure: Selected representatives of Deltocyathidae with flat skeletons (upper panel) compared to the conical skeletons typical of Turbinoliidae, with the exception of the newly described coral genus Dennantotrochus (lower panel).
PUBLICATION: Vaga, C.F., Seiblitz, I.G., Capel, K., Stolarski, J., Quattrini, A.M., Danwei, H., Quek, R., Kitahara, M.V. 2024. 300 million years apart: the extreme case of macromorphological skeletal convergence between deltocyathids and a turbinoliid coral (Anthozoa, Scleractinia). Invertebrate Systematics 38: IS23053, doi: 10.1071/IS23053