Madracis auretenra (Scleractinia: Pocilloporidae): Testing our knowledge of systematics, biology and connectivity in the western North Atlantic

• Main Author: Locke, Jan M.
• Other Authors: Weil, Ernesto F., Yoshioka, Paul, Coates, Kathryn, Nadathur, Govind, Aponte, Nilda E., Ramirez, Wilson, College of Arts and Sciences - Sciences, Department of Marine Sciences
• Format: Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: 2009
• Subjects: Madracis auretenra - Taxonomy - Puerto Rico; Madracis auretenra - Classification; Phylogeography - Madracis auretenra - Puerto Rico; Madracis auretenra - Systematic biology; Scleractinia > Caribbean Sea > Classification; Scleractinia > Genetics; Corals > Caribbean Sea; Coates; Locke; North Atlantic
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11801/1620

The systematic biology of the Caribbean scleractinian coral Madracis auretenra Locke, Weil and Coates 2007 is presented. This includes a new species description and brief taxonomic history, an explanation for the name Madracis mirabilis (Duchassaing and Michelotti 1860), a biological and bibliographic revision of M. auretenra, and information on this coral’s genetic diversity and phylogeography in the greater Caribbean region. Madracis auretenra is described for a common, shallow-water, zooxanthellate coral, previously mis-identified as M. mirabilis. Madracis mirabilis is a subjective junior synonym for the deep-water species Madracis myriaster and according to the International Rules of Zoological Nomenclature, the name M. mirabilis cannot be used for another coral species. The problematic taxonomic history of this coral is presented as a perspective to explain what the binomen M. mirabilis refers to, in order to make this information easy to understand and accept by the community of coral researchers. To ensure earlier work on the species is recognized, a biological and bibliographic review of M. auretenra incorporates literature from more than 170 publications on the species, when it was incorrectly identified as M. asperula, M. mirabilis, or M. mirabilis sensu Wells 1973 during the years 1959-2008. Conspecificity with M. auretenra has been verified by authors of 97 M. mirabilis publications; unverified studies are noted. The review includes an extensive description of M. auretenra with new information on colony branch diameter and information on the distribution, ecology, physiology, molecular and experimental research of this common Caribbean species. To inform conservation management of Bermuda’s geographically isolated high latitude reef system, assessments of genetic diversity and connectivity were made for the hermaphroditic, brooding coral M. auretenra. Patterns of genetic structure and evolutionary history for the coral in Bermuda, the Florida Keys and Puerto Rico are elucidated using the nuclear ...