Advances in the Studies of Lophotrochozoan Molecular Phylogeny

Lophotrochozoa are one of the important groups in the metazoan evolutionary studies because they have the most unsymmetrical body plans and the greatest diversity, consist of more than half of the protostome phyla, such as the Brachiopoda, Phoronida, Bryozoa, Annelida, Echiura, Sipuncula, Rotifera, Acanthocephala, Gastrotricha, Gnathostomulida, Nemertea, Entoprocta, Cycliophora, Platyhelminthes, etc. The origin and evolution of lophotrochozoans traditionally studied were much of speculations mainly based on their comparative morphological and embryological traits. In recent two decades, with the rapid progress and universally application of molecular systematics in these study areas, it is possible to clarify the phylogenetic relationships of most groups within lophotrochozoans. However, up to date most studies related were in uncongruent with one another and there exist a lot of unresolved problems in many respects, especially about the phylogenetic positions of some minor phyla, such as the Bryozoa, Gastrotricha, Gnathostomula, Cycliophora, Myzostomida and so on. In this paper, we reviewed the recent advances in the molecular phylogenetic studies about the lophotrochozoans and discussed the existing unresolved problems, meanwhile, we also expect the advances of lophotrochozoan evolution in the future.

並列關鍵字

Lophotrochozoa ； metazoans ； evolution ； molecular phylogeny

國際替代計量

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