| dc.description.abstract | Janaria mirabilis (Hydractiniidae, Hydrozoa, Cnidaria) is a calcareous hydrozoan that forms encrusting colonies on gastropod shells. Identifying Hydractiniids using morphology only has been shown to be misleading due to the possible presence of cryptic/sibling species that show little or no morphological diversification despite deep genetic divergence. We analyzed samples of Janaria mirabilis collected in Baja California to better characterize its species boundaries and test whether cryptic species are present within its geographic range. We used the 16S mitochondrial gene, which has been tested on other Hydractiniidae species and has been very useful in identifying cryptic and sibling species within Hydrozoa. Our phylogenetic hypothesis shows that the three populations of Janaria mirabilis (North Baja, Central Baja, and Pacific) despite morphological differences show no genetic diversity in the mitochondrial 16S gene. Our data show that the genetic differences display no clustering by geography and morphology. | |
