An integrative approach reveals a new species of Zoantharia (Cnidaria, Anthozoa), Terrazoanthus silveirai, in the South-western Atlantic Ocean

ABSTRACT

The recently erected macrocnemic family Hydrozoanthidae comprises relatively few species recorded from tropical and subtropical regions. In the Atlantic Ocean, this family has been reported only from three locations: the Caribbean Sea, the Argentine continental shelf and the Cape Verde Islands. Based on a study of colonies collected during scuba diving at Alcatrazes Archipelago’s main island (São Paulo State), south-eastern Brazil, a new species belonging to the genus Terrazoanthus is described as T. silveirai sp. nov. Vaga, Migotto & Kitahara. Morphological and ecological observations coupled with molecular analyses revealed a unique cnidome, a novel facultative association with sponges, and confirmed the phylogenetic position of this new species within Hydrozoanthidae. Our results represent the second record of Hydrozoanthidae and Terrazoanthus from the South-western Atlantic, expanding the sparse taxonomic knowledge of the order Zoantharia in this area.

http://zoobank.org/3969190B-A039-457C-8101-44FEF60B4D43

KEYWORDS:

• Alcatrazes Archipelago
• Brazil
• Macrocnemina
• phylogeny

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (ICMBio) for all the support in the development of research at the Alcatrazes Wildlife Refuge and the Centre for Marine Biology for infrastructure support. We are grateful to Dr Fernando C. de Moraes (MNRJ-UFRJ) for his help in the sponge identification. The authors are also thankful to Prof. Rubens C. L. Figueira (IO-USP) and MSc Laiza Faria for their help during specimen preparation for histological analyses. We thank Edson Faria Junior and the MAArE project for information about zoantharian colonies from Santa Catarina state. We thank the support of FAPESP (grant #2014/01332-0) and Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (grant #301436/2018-5 and #142149/2018-7). This paper is a contribution of NP-BioMar, USP.

Author contributions

CFV, AEM and MVK conceived and designed the research. CFV, RMH, MVK and AEM conducted the analyses. AEM, RMH and MVK contributed reagents or analytical tools. All authors contributed to the writing of the manuscript and approved its final version.

Data availability statement

New sequences determined in the present study were deposited in GenBank (accession numbers: MW012621–MW012626, MW703691–MW703692). Accession numbers of already published and previously deposited GenBank sequences used to build the alignments are listed in Online Resources 1.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by CNPQ [grant number: 142149/2018-7,301436/2018-5]; São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) [grant number: 2014/01332-0].