Abstract
The iconic gastropod genus Cyphoma is commonly observed in the Caribbean, where it lives in association with various octocorallian hosts. Each species in the genus Cyphoma has a unique, characteristic mantle pattern and colouration, which separates the valid taxa. Because of its abundance and recognisability Cyphoma gibbosum has been used as a model organism in several studies concerning allelochemicals, reef degradation, and physical defence mechanisms. Molecular analyses based on four molecular markers (COI, 16S, H3 and 28S) for three Cyphoma species (C. gibbosum, C. mcgintyi, C. signatum) and an unidentified black morph, collected from three localities in the Caribbean, show that they represent morphological varieties of a single, genetically homogeneous species. This outcome is in agreement with previous anatomical studies. As a result C. mcgintyi and C. signatum are synonymised with C. gibbosum, which is a key result for future work using C. gibbosum as a model organism. The striking morphological differences in mantle pattern and colouration are hypothesised to be the result of one of three possible scenarios: rapid divergence, supergenes (including balanced polymorphism), or incipient speciation.
Highlights
Biodiversity on reefs is dominated by highly diverse invertebrate taxa that are understudied and incompletely described (Reaka-Kudla, 1997)
All other Cyphoma species are distributed randomly throughout the clade and do not show phylogenetic affinities based on mantle patterns and colouration
In this study we show that morphological characters of selected species in the genus Cyphoma do not correspond with the genetic data, which is in accordance with studies on anatomical features in Cyphoma (Ghiselin & Wislon, 1966; Simone, 2004)
Summary
Biodiversity on reefs is dominated by highly diverse invertebrate taxa that are understudied and incompletely described (Reaka-Kudla, 1997). Many of these taxa live in association with corals on which they rely for food, habitat and settlement cues. For Octocorallia no such review on their associated fauna is available, but Goh, Ng & Chou (1999) reported on 30 mollusc species among 17 families living in association with gorgonians in Singapore. This gorgonian associated fauna included bivalves (e.g., Pteria), nudibranchs (e.g., Phyllodesmium, Tritonia), and gastropods (Ovulidae). The widespread family Ovulidae occurs in all temperate and tropical oceans and all but one species, Volva volva (Linnaeus, 1758), live intrinsically associated with Octocorallia and Antipatharia
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