When morphology cannot identify species: high morphological diversity of Pocillopora corals (Anthozoa: Scleractinia) in the Eastern Tropical Pacific
Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: Accurate species identification is fundamental to biological diversity assessments and critical for understanding ecological and evolutionary dynamics. Nonetheless, the high levels of morphological variation in many scleractinian corals have blurred the recognition of species boundaries. The genus Pocillopora is widely distributed and exhibits high levels of colony level phenotypic plasticity and polymorphism, leading to the description of over 40 species worldwide. In the Eastern Tropical Pacific (ETP), nine “morphospecies” have been recorded, but only four genetically distinct species are now recognized in the area, based initially on variation in mitochondrial DNA and then supported by genomic data. This study aimed to identify useful molecular and morphological traits to recognize and describe the Pocillopora diversity in the ETP. We found that Histone and mitochondrial markers could identify discrete lineages, while most of the nuclear genes analyzed offered little power for delineation. Neither colonial morphology nor corallite micro-morphology reliably corresponded to the lineages identified. Based on mitochondrial and nuclear genetic data, we found that at least four distinct lineages occur in the ETP. The species names associated with these mitochondrial haplotypes in other studies are most often P. cf. effusa , P. lacera , and two putative cryptic species: P. capitata and P. meandrina .
Source: Research Square
Authors: Yesenia M. Vega-Sánchez, Rebecca Albright, Ana M. Millan-Marquez, Jean Francois Flot, Yuko F. Kitano, Michael E. Hellberg, Francisco J. García-De León, Eduardo F. Balart, Héctor Nava, Antonio González-Rodríguez, Nina Yasuda, Fernando A. Zapata, Jorge Cortés, Juan J. Alvarado, Evie A. Wieters, Andrés López-Pérez, P. Puig-Martí, Zac Forsman, David A. Paz-García
Institutions: Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo, California Academy of Sciences, Universidad del Valle, Université Libre de Bruxelles, University of Miyazaki, Louisiana State University, Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas del Noroeste S.C., Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Universidad de Costa Rica, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
Language: English
Subfield: Ecology
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7225809182