Abstract

BRAGA GOMES, Paula; ZAMPONI, Mauricio Oscar  and  SOLE-CAVA, Antonio Mateo. Asexual reproduction and molecular systematics of the sea anemone Anthopleura krebsi (Actiniaria: Actiniidae). Rev. biol. trop [online]. 2003, vol.51, n.1, pp.147-154. ISSN 0034-7744.

In this paper we use allozyme analyses to demonstrate that individuals in Anthopleura krebsi aggregates are monoclonal. Additionally, sympatric samples of the red and the green colour-morphs of A. krebsi from Pernambuco, Brazil were genetically compared and no significant differences were observed between them (gene identity= 0.992), indicating that they do not belong to different biological species. All individuals within aggregates of the green colour-morph were found to be identical over the five polymorphic loci analysed. Such results would be extremely unlikely (P<10 -11 ) if the individuals analysed had been generated through sexual reproduction, thus confirming the presence of asexual reproduction in this species.

Keywords : Cnidaria; allozymes; clones; fission; molecular systematics.