Abstract
Bobtail and bottletail squid are small cephalopods with striking anti-predatory defensive mechanisms, bioluminescence, and complex morphology; that inhabit nektobenthic and pelagic environments around the world’s oceans. Yet, the evolution and diversification of these animals remain unclear. Here, we used shallow genome sequencing of thirty-two bobtail and bottletail squids to estimate their evolutionary relationships and divergence time. Our phylogenetic analyses show that each of Sepiadariidae, Sepiolidae, and the three subfamilies of the Sepiolidae are monophyletic. We found that the ancestor of the Sepiolinae very likely possessed a bilobed light organ with bacteriogenic luminescence. Sepiolinae forms a sister group to Rossinae and Heteroteuthinae, and split into Indo-Pacific and Atlantic-Mediterranean lineages. The origin of these lineages coincides with the end of the Tethys Sea and the separation of these regions during the Eocene and the beginning of the Oligocene. We demonstrated that sepiolids radiated after the Late Cretaceous and that major biogeographic events might have shaped their distribution and speciation.
Highlights
Bobtail and bottletail squid are small cephalopods with striking anti-predatory defensive mechanisms, bioluminescence, and complex morphology; that inhabit nektobenthic and pelagic environments around the world’s oceans
Sepiolids comprise the order Sepiolida Keferstein, 1866 which is split into the families Sepiolidae Leach, 1817 and Sepiadariidae Fisher, 1882, commonly known as bobtail and bottletail squid, respectively
Bobtail and bottletail squids are emerging as model organisms for cephalopods due to their easy culture under laboratory conditions[5]
Summary
Bobtail and bottletail squid are small cephalopods with striking anti-predatory defensive mechanisms, bioluminescence, and complex morphology; that inhabit nektobenthic and pelagic environments around the world’s oceans. We first characterized our specimens based on morphological characters, and sequenced their DNA at low coverage to skim for mitochondrial genes and nuclear ribosomal genes, and to define a set of ultraconserved loci based on shared alignments to the reference genome of E. scolopes.
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have