Aplousobranchia ascidians in Andaman and Nicobar Islands: a combined morphological and molecular discrimination

Abstract

Aplousobranchia ascidians from two different families were integrated with morphological characteristics and molecular phylogenetic analysis for the first time. The present study employed morphological descriptions (colony structures, tunic, zooids, spicules stigmata and test) and a molecular approach, using a fragment of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I (COI) gene of four Aplousobranchia colonial ascidians Aplidium conicum (98%), Aplidium elegans (98%), Didemnum fulgens (92%) and Trididemnum cyanophorum (94%) from Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Bar-coded sequences were extracted with BLAST format from NCBI and the heritable diversity of the submitted sequences were compared with associated ascidian species. Study revealed that the evolutionary relationship among the ascidian species exhibited the constant clades, which may help for rapid reassessment of morphological characters of the species distributed worldwide.

Keywords:

• Ascidians
• aplousobranchia
• morphology
• mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I
• Andaman and Nicobar Islands

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank The Dean and Director CAS in Marine Biology and authorities of Annamalai University for providing facilities.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The authors wish to thank Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (File.No. 22-48/2010-CS-I Dt: 28.02.2013) New Delhi, India, for financial support.