Skip to main content Skip to main navigation menu Skip to site footer
Type: Article
Published: 2016-04-06
Page range: 273–297
Abstract views: 61
PDF downloaded: 1

Shallow-water reef ophiuroids (Echinodermata: Ophiuroidea) of Réunion (Mascarene Islands), with biogeographic considerations

USR3278-CRIOBE-EPHE-CNRS-UPVD, Laboratoire d’Excellence « CORAIL », Bat. R – CBETM, Université de Perpignan, 58 Avenue Paul Alduy, 66860 Perpignan Cedex, France
Molecular Ecology and Evolution Programme, Department of Genetics, University of Pretoria, Pretoria 0002, Republic of South Africa
Florida Museum of Natural History, Division of Malacology, 278 Dickinson Hall, Museum Road & Newell Drive, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA
UMR Entropie, Laboratoire d’Excellence « CORAIL », Université de La Réunion, CS 92003, 97744 Saint Denis, La Réunion, France
Echinodermata brittle-stars biodiversity morphotype cryptic species dispersal ability coral reefs

Abstract

Despite their importance in marine biodiversity, invertebrates are far less studied than vertebrates. Given the current global biodiversity crisis and insufficient taxonomic resources, sustained efforts need to be undertaken to assess species diversity, especially in the highly threatened ‘biodiversity hotspots’. Réunion is a young volcanic island lying in the Mascarene Islands (south-western Indian Ocean, SWIO), a marine biodiversity hotspot. A substantial sampling effort was conducted around Réunion Island to document shallow water reef-associated ophiuroid (brittle-stars) diversity, a class recognised as the most diverse among echinoderms. A total of 33 species were documented, increasing the known species richness of the island by 56%. Findings include 15 new records for Réunion, 11 for the Mascarene Islands and 8 for the Indian Ocean. The most diverse family was Ophiocomidae, a family of large, abundant and conspicuous tropical species. Even in this well studied family, a new species was revealed by this survey. Morphological variants together with DNA sequence variations within several species revealed cryptic species. We compared our results with the known fauna of other Mascarene Islands and discuss biogeographic implications for the region.

 

References

  1. Baker, A.N. (1980) Euryalinid Ophiuroidea (Echinodermata) from Australia, New Zealand, and the south-west Pacific Ocean. New Zealand Jounal of Zoology, 7, 11–83.
    http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03014223.1980.10423763

    Balinsky, J.B. (1957) The Ophiuroidea of Inhaca Island. Annals of the Natal Museum, 14, 1–33.

    Bell, F.J. (1884) Echinodermata. Report on the zoological collections made in the Indo-Pacific Ocean during the voyage of H.M.S. “Alert”, 1881–2, 117–177, 509–512, pls 8–17 & 45.

    Bell, F.J. (1909) Report on the echinoderma (other than holothurians) collected by Mr. J. Stanley Gardiner in the western parts of the Indian Ocean. Transactions of the Linnean Society of London. 2nd Series, Zoology 13, 17–22.

    Benavides-Serrato, M. & O´Hara, T.D. (2008) A new species in the Ophiocoma erinaceus complex from the South-west Pacific Ocean (Echinodermata: Ophiuroidea: Ophiocomidae). Memoirs of Museum Victoria, 65, 51–56.

    Boissin, E. (2008) Phylogénie, phylogéographie, mode de reproduction et structure démographique dans le complexe d'espèces de l'ophiure hermaphrodite incubante Amphipholis squamata, PhD thesis. University of Aix-Marseille II, Marseille, France. pp. 188.

    Boissin, E., Féral, J.P. & Chenuil, A. (2008) Defining reproductively isolated units in a cryptic and syntopic species complex using mitochondrial and nuclear markers: the brooding brittle star Amphipholis squamata (Ophiuroidea) Molecular Ecology, 17, 1732–1744.

    http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-294X.2007.03652.x

    Boissin, E., Hoareau, T.B., Feral, J.P. & Chenuil, A. (2008) Extreme selfing rates in the cosmopolitan brittle star species complex Amphipholis squamata: data from progeny-array and heterozygote deficiency. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 361, 151–159.
    http://dx.doi.org/10.3354/meps07411

    Boissin, E., Stöhr, S., Chenuil, A. (2011) Did vicariance and adaptation drive cryptic speciation and evolution of brooding in Ophioderma longicauda (Echinodermata: Ophiuroidea), a common Atlanto-Mediterranean ophiuroid? Molecular Ecology, 20, 4737–4755.
    http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-294X.2011.05309.x

    Boissin, E., Egea, E., Féral, J.P. & Chenuil, A. (2015) Contrasting population genetic structures in Amphipholis squamata, a complex of brooding and self-reproducing sister species sharing life history traits. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 539, 165–177.
    http://dx.doi.org/10.3354/meps11480

    Bollard, S., Pinault, M., Quod, J.P., Boissin, E., Hemery, L.& Conand, C. (2013) Biodiversity of echinoderms on underwater lava flows with different ages, from the Piton de La Fournaise (Reunion Island, Indian Ocean). Cahiers De Biologie Marine, 54, 491–497.

    Bussarawit, S. & Rowe, F.W.E. (1985) A new species in the ophiocomid genus Ophiocoma (Echinodermata: Ophiuroidea) from the West coast of Thailand, Adaman Sea. Phuket Marine Biological center Research Bulletin, 35, 1–6.

    Carlton, J.T. (1985) Transoceanic and interoceanic dispersal of coastal marine organisms: the biology off ballast water. Oceanography and Marine Biology, Annual Review, 23, 313–371.

    Cherbonnier, G. & Guille, A. (1978) Echinodermes: Ophiurides. In: Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle (Eds.), Faune de Madagascar. Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris, pp. 1–272.

    Cisternas, P.A. & Byrne, M. (2005) Evolution of abbreviated development in the ophiuroid Ophiarachnella gorgonia involves heterochronies and deletions. Canadian Journal of Zoology-Revue Canadienne De Zoologie, 83, 1067–1078.
    http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/z05-092

    Clark, A.M. (1953) A revision of the genus Ophionereis. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, 123, 1, 65–94.

    Clark, A.M. & Rowe, F.W.E. (1971) Monograph of shallow-water Indo-West Pacific echinoderms. Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). London, 234 pp.

    Corona, P., Chirici, G., McRoberts, R. E., Winter, S. & Barbati, A. (2011) Contribution of large-scale forest inventories to biodiversity assessment and monitoring. Forest Ecology and Management, 262, 2061–2069.
    http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2011.08.044

    Dawson, M.N. (2005) Cyanea capillata is not a cosmopolitan jellyfish: morphological and molecular evidence for C-annaskala and C-rosea (Scyphozoa : Semaeostomeae : Cyaneidae) in south-eastern Australia. Invertebrate Systematics, 19, 361–370.
    http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/IS03035

    de Loriol, P. (1893a) III. Ophiurides et Astrophytides. In: Genève, Mémoires de la société de Physique et d’Histoire Naturelle de Genève (Ed.), Catalogue raisonné des échinodermes recueillis par M.V. de Robillard à l'île Maurice. Aubert-Schuchardt, Genève, Vol. 32, 1ère partie.

    De Loriol, P. (1893b) Echinodermes de la Baie d'Amboine. Revue Suisse zoologique, 1, 359–426, pls 13–15.

    Devaney, D.M. (1970) Studies on ophiocomid brittlestars. I. A new genus (Clarkoma) of Ophiocominae with a reevaluation of the genus Ophiocoma. Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology, 51, 1–41.
    http://dx.doi.org/10.5479/si.00810282.51

    Devaney, D.M. (1974) Shallow water Asterozoans of Southeastern Polynesia. II. Ophiuroidea. Micronesica, 10 (1), 105–204.

    Fontaine, A.R. (1965) Feeding Mechanisms of Ophiuroid Ophiocomina nigra. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 45, 373–381.
    http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0025315400054904

    Gage, J.D., Pearson, M., Clark, A.M., Paterson, G.L.J. & Tyler, P.A. (1983) Echinoderms of the Rockall Trough and adjacent areas. I. Crinoidea, Asteroidea and Ophiuroidea. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History), Zoology, 45, 263–308.
    http://dx.doi.org/10.5962/bhl.part.28002

    Gaston, K.J., & Blackburn, T.M. (2000) Pattern and process in macroecology. Blackwell Science. UK, Oxford.

    Guille, A. (1981). Résultats des campagnes Musorstom I. Philippines (18–8 mars 1976). Echinoderms: Ophiurides. — Memoires Orstom, 91, 413–455.

    Guille, A. & Ribes, S. (1981) Echinodermes associés aux Scléractiniaires d'un récif frangeant de l'île de La Réunion (océan Indien). Bulletin du Muséum national d’Histoire Naturelle, 3, 1, 73–92.

    Guille, A., & Wolff, W.J. (1984) Résultats biologiques de l’Expedition Snellius : Echinodermata, Ophiuroidea. Zoologische Verhandelinden Leiden, 213, 1–39.

    Highsmith, R.C. (1985) Floating and Algal Rafting as Potential Dispersal Mechanisms in Brooding Invertebrates. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 25, 169–179.
    http://dx.doi.org/10.3354/meps025169

    Hixon, M.A. (2011) 60 Years of Coral Reef Fish Ecology: past, present, future. Bulletin of Marine Science 87, 727–765.
    http://dx.doi.org/10.5343/bms.2010.1055

    Hoareau, T.B. & Boissin, E. (2010) Design of phylum-specific hybrid primers for DNA barcoding: addressing the need for efficient COI amplification in the Echinodermata. Molecular Ecology Resources, 10, 960–967.
    http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1755-0998.2010.02848.x

    Hoareau, T.B., Boissin, E., Paulay, G.,& Bruggemann, J.H. (2013) The Southwestern Indian Ocean as a potential marine evolutionary hotspot: perspectives from comparative phylogeography of reef brittle-stars. Journal of Biogeography 40, 2167–2179.
    http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jbi.12155

    Hoegh-Guldberg, O, Mumby, PJ, Hooten, AJ, Steneck, RS, Greenfield, P, Gomez, E, Harvell, CD, Sale, PF, Edwards, AJ, Caldeira, K, Knowlton, N, Eakin, CM, Iglesias-Prieto, R, Muthiga, N, Bradbury, RH, Dubi, A & Hatziolos, ME (2007) Coral reefs under rapid climate change and ocean acidification. Science 318, 1737–1742.
    http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1152509

    Hoggett, A.K. (1990) Taxonomy and systematic position of the brittlestar genus Macrophiothrix H.L. Clark, 1938 (Echinodermata: Ophiuroidea). PhD thesis, University of Queensland, Australia.

    Hoggett, A.K. (1991) The genus Macrophiothrix (Ophiuroidea: Ophiotrichidae) in Australian waters. Invertebrate Taxonomy, 4, 1077–1146.
    http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/IT9901077

    Hoggett, A.K. (2006) A new species of Macrophiothrix (Ophiuroidea: Ophiotrichidae) common in northern Australia. Zootaxa, 1326, 17–24.

    Koehler, R. (1905) Ophiures de l'expédition du Siboga. Part 2. Ophiures littorales. Siboga Expeditie, 45b.

    Koehler, R. (1922) Ophiurans of the Philippine Seas and adjacent waters. Smithsonian Institution United States National Museum Bulletin, 100 (5), 1–486.

    Lyman, T. (1860) Descriptions of new Ophiuridae, belonging to the Smithsonian Institution and to the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Cambridge. Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History, 7, 193–205.
    http://dx.doi.org/10.5962/bhl.part.4822

    Meyer, C.P., Geller, J.B.& Paulay, G. (2005) Fine scale endemism on coral reefs: archipelagic differentiation in turbinid gastropods. Evolution, 59, 113–125.
    http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.0014-3820.2005.tb00899.x

    Murray, J.W. (2007) Biodiversity of living benthic foraminifera: How many species are there? Marine Micropaleontology, 64, 163–176.

    O’Hara T.D., Byrne M. & Cisternas P.A. (2004) The Ophiocoma erinaceus complex: another case of cryptic speciation in echinoderms. In: Heinzeller, T. & Nebelsick, J.H. (Eds), Echinoderms: München. Proceedings of the 11th International Echinoderm Conference, 6–10 October 2003. A.A.Balkema, pp. 537–542.

    O'Hara, T.D., Hugall, A.F., Thuy, B. & Moussalli, A. (2014) Phylogenomic Resolution of the Class Ophiuroidea Unlocks a Global Microfossil Record. Current Biology, 24, 1874–1879.
    http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2014.06.060

    Oak, T. & Scheibling, R.E. (2006) Tidal activity pattern and feeding behaviour of the ophiuroid Ophiocoma scolopendrina on a Kenyan reef flat. Coral Reefs, 25, 213–222.
    http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00338-006-0089-6

    Obura, D. (2012) The diversity and biogeography of western Indian Ocean reef-building corals. Plos One, 7 (9), e48013.
    http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0045013

    Olbers, J. & Samyn, Y. (2012) The Ophiocoma species (Ophiurida: Ophiocomidae) of South Africa. Western Indian Ocean Journal of Marine Science, 10, 137–154.

    Price, A.R.G. & Rowe, F.W.E. (1996) Indian Ocean echinoderms collected during the Sindbad Voyage (1980–81), 3—Ophiuroidea and Echinoidea. Bulletin of the National History Museum London (Zoology), 62, 71–82.

    Roberts, C.M., McClean, C.J., Veron, J.E.N., Hawkins, J.P., Allen, G.R., McAllister, D.E., Mittermeier, C.G., Schueler, F.W., Spalding, M., Wells, F., Vynne, C.& Werner, T.B. (2002) Marine biodiversity hotspots and conservation priorities for tropical reefs. Science 295, 1280–1284.
    http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1067728

    Rowe, F.W.E. & Richmond, M.D. (2004) A preliminary account of the shallow-water echinoderms of Rodrigues, Mauritius, western Indian Ocean. Journal of Natural History, 3273–3314.
    http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/002229301695105

    Roy, M.S. & Sponer, R. (2002) Evidence of a human-mediated invasion of the tropical western Atlantic by the 'world's most common brittlestar'. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B-Biological Sciences, 269, 1017–1023.
    http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2002.1977

    Schott, F.A. & McCreary, J.P. (2001) The monsoon circulation of the Indian Ocean. Progress in Oceanography, 51, 1–123.
    http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0079-6611(01)00083-0

    Sloan, N.A., Clark, A.M. & Taylor, J.D. (1979) The echinoderms of Aldabra and their habitats. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History) Zoology, 37 (2), 81–128.

    Smith, A.B., Paterson, G.L.J. & Lafay, B. (1995) Ophiuroid phylogeny and higher taxonomy: morphological, molecular and palaeontological perspectives. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 114, 213–243.
    http://dx.doi.org/10.1006/zjls.1995.0024

    Sponer, R. (2002) Phylogeography and evolutionary history of the cosmopolitan, brooding brittle star Amphipholis squamata (Delle Chiaje, 1828; Echinodermata: Ophiuroidea). PhD thesis, University of Otago, Dunedin. pp. 188.

    Starmer, J.A. (2003) An annotated checklist of ophiuroids (Echinodermata) from Guam. Micronesica, 35–36, 547–562.

    Stöhr, S. (2011) New records and new species of Ophiuroidea (Echinodermata) from Lifou, Loyalty Islands, New Caledonia. Zootaxa 3089, 1–50.

    Stöhr, S., Conand, C. & Boissin, E. (2008) Brittle stars (Echinodermata: Ophiuroidea) from La Réunion and the systematic position of Ophiocanops Koehler, 1922. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 153, 545–560.
    http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1096-3642.2008.00401.x

    Stöhr, S., Boissin, E. & Hoareau T.B. (2013) Taxonomic revision and phylogeny of the Ophiocoma brevipes group, with description of a new subgenus (Breviturma) and a new species. European Journal of Taxonomy 68,1–26.
    http://dx.doi.org/10.5852/ejt.2013.68

    Stöhr, S., O’Hara, T. & Thuy, B. (Eds) (2016) World Ophiuroidea database. Accessed at http://www.marinespecies.org/ophiuroidea on 2016-01-04.

    Thiel, M. & Haye, P.A. (2006) The ecology of rafting in the marine environment. III. Biogeographical and evolutionary consequences. In: Oceanography and Marine Biology - an Annual Review, Vol 44, Crc Press-Taylor & Francis Group, Boca Raton. pp. 323–429.

    Thomas, L.P. (1975) The systematic relationships of Ophioplocus, Ophioceramis and Ophioceres (Echinodermata, Ophiuroidea). Bulletin of Marine Science, 25, 2, 232–247.

    Vadon, C. & Guille, A. (1984) Les Ophiuridae (Ophiuroidea, Echinodermata) de la campagne MD 32 du ‘Marion-Dufresne’ autour de l’ile de La Réunion. Bulletin Muséum national d’Histoire Naturelle, 4e Series, 6, 583–615.

    Vail, L.L. & Rowe, F.W.E. (1989) Status of the genera Ophiopeza and Ophiopsammus (Echinodermata: Ophiuroidea) in Australian waters, with the description of a new species. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales, 110, 3, 267–288.

    Wheeler, Q.D. (1995) Systematics, the scientific basis for inventories of biodiversity. Biodiversity and Conservation, 4, 476–489.
    http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF00056338