Molecular and morphological variation supports monotypy of the octocoral Briareum Blainville, 1830 (Octocorallia: Alcyonacea) in the Western Atlantic

Overview of the genus Briareum (Cnidaria, Octocorallia, Briareidae) in the Indo-Pacific, with the description of a new species

“…It can be found in a wide range of habitats forming different colony shapes. The single Atlantic species, Briareum asbestinum (Pallas, 1766) has two main colony forms, encrusting and digitate (Bayer 1961; Bilewitch 2010). The Indo-Pacific species can form encrusting colonies, finger like lobes, or cylindrical branches, which may be hollow.…”

Coral Reefs of the United Kingdom Overseas Territories

“…Studies of deep-water diversity are de fi cient and existing reports rely heavily on anecdotal records and haphazard, accidentally-collected specimens (Cairns et al 1986 ;Bilewitch 2008 ) . A number of shallow-water studies exist (e.g.…”

“…The intraspeci fi c genetic diversity of octocorals in Bermuda has been studied only twice (Bilewitch 2006 ;Bilewitch et al 2010 ) and only one of these studies examined populationlevel differences in some depth. Bilewitch ( 2006 ) examined species-level (and above) octocoral molecular systematics but also provided indirect evidence of intraspeci fi c genetic variation in the four shallow-water species Plexaura fl exuosa , Pseudoplexaura porosa , Gorgonia ventalina and Briareum asbestinum .…”

“…Of these, all except P. fl exuosa contained some genotypes that were unique to Bermuda (Bilewitch 2006 ) . Bilewitch et al ( 2010 ) further examined the population variation of B. asbestinum and found both unique and shared genotypes in the Bermudian population. The star-like genetic diversi fi cation of B. asbestinum , where the wide-ranging genotypes are central to the region-speci fi c genotypes is consistent with a pattern of Caribbean ancestry with subsequent limited allopatric diversi fi cation in Bermuda.…”

“…Bilewitch et al ( 2010 ) further examined the population variation of B. asbestinum and found both unique and shared genotypes in the Bermudian population. The Bermudian population thus appears to be semi-isolated to the extent that allows some endemic genotypes to develop, but either the age of the population is too young or the in fl ux of genotypes from the Caribbean is too frequent to have resulted in enough genetic drift to lead to speciation (Bilewitch et al 2010 ) . The Bermudian population thus appears to be semi-isolated to the extent that allows some endemic genotypes to develop, but either the age of the population is too young or the in fl ux of genotypes from the Caribbean is too frequent to have resulted in enough genetic drift to lead to speciation (Bilewitch et al 2010 ) .…”