Phylogeny of Aphroditiformia (Polychaeta) based on molecular and morphological data

Abstract

The phylogeny of Aphroditiformia, benthic polychaetes carrying dorsal elytra, is assessed from nuclear 18S rDNA, mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI), and 31 morphological characters. Two non-elytrabearing taxa, Palmyra and Pisione, are included to assess their relationship to the elytrabearers. The data are analysed both separately and combined, with parsimony, maximum likelihood and Bayesian analyses. In total, 19 terminal taxa are examined, including 12 elytrabearing taxa from all scale-worm groups, Palmyra, Pisione, and five outgroup taxa. The results show that Palmyra and Pisione are nested within Aphroditiformia. Palmyra is sister to Aphrodita, and both Pisione and Pholoe are positioned within Sigalionidae, suggesting that both family names Pisionidae and Pholoidae should be treated as junior synonyms of Sigalionidae.