ABSTRACT

Ascidians are marine filter-feeder chordates. Botrylloides ascidians possess diverse biological properties such as whole-body regeneration (WBR), hibernation/aestivation, blastogenesis, metamorphosis, and natural chimerism. However, the absence of distinctive morphological features often makes identification difficult. Botrylloides diegensis is an ascidian that has been misidentified in previous studies and is recorded in GenBank as Botrylloides leachii owing to the high morphological similarity between the sister species. More available sequences and strategies for identification would help resolve some of the confusion surrounding its ambiguous nature. We collected several Botrylloides samples from seven locations in Aotearoa New Zealand (Dunedin, Christchurch, Picton, Nelson, Whangateau, New Plymouth, and Invercargill) and barcoded the species based on Cytochrome Oxidase I, Histone 3, 18S, and 28S ribosomal RNA markers. Network and Bayesian trees confirmed the presence of three Botrylloides species: B. diegensis, Botrylloides jacksonianum, and Botrylloides affinis anceps.

摘要

海鞘是海洋滤食性脊索动物。Botrylloides海鞘具有多种生物学特性，如全身再生 (WBR)、冬眠/夏眠、胚芽发生、变态和自然嵌合。然而，缺乏独特的形态特征往往使识别变得困难。Botrylloides diegensis是一种海鞘纲，在之前的研究中被错误鉴定，由于姐妹种之间形态高度相似，在 GenBank 中被记录为Botrylloides leachii 。更多可用的序列和识别策略将有助于解决围绕其模糊性质的一些混乱。我们收集了几种Botrylloides研究人员从新西兰七个地点（达尼丁、基督城、皮克顿、尼尔森、旺加托、新普利茅斯和因弗卡吉尔）采集样本，并根据细胞色素氧化酶 I、组蛋白 3、18S 和 28S 核糖体 RNA 标记对物种进行条形码标记。网络和贝叶斯树证实了三种Botrylloides物种的存在：B. diegensis、Botrylloides jacksonianum和Botrylloides affinis anceps。