1. Evolution of column morphology in Aliciidae inferred from a molecular phylogeny A.L. Crowther*, P. Cartwright*, M. Daly^, & D.G. Fautin* * The University of Kansas, Dept of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, and the Biodiversity Institute ^ The Ohio State University, Dept of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology

2. Sea anemones in general Smooth column Pedal disc Circular oral disc Unbranched tentacles Photo by N. Barnett (http://www.newt.com/wohler/events/monterey-2005/)

3. Aliciid features Vesicles simple or compound Unbranched tentacles Four genera; 11 species Pseudotentacles

4. Aliciid diversity Four genera Alicia Lebrunia Triactis Phyllodiscus

5. Evolution of characters - hypotheses Pseudotentacle evolution Vesicle evolution

6. Materials and Methods 48 samples; 17 from Aliciidae Genes: complete 28S (3kb), COIII (650bp), 16S (650bp) Alignment: MAFFT Analyses: ML (RAxML), Bayesian (Mr.Bayes) Support: 1000 bootstrap replicates, posterior probabilities Character reconstructions: Mesquite

11. Pom-pom sea anemones

12. Character evolution summary Pseudotentacle evolution Vesicle evolution

13. Acknowledgments Funding –NSF CnidToL project –The University of Kansas Graduate School travel fund –Dept of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, The University of Kansas (Travel funds and Ida Hyde research grant) –Panorama Small Grant Program, The University of Kansas Biodiversity Institute –Kansas Academy of Science Student Research Grant –Lerner-Gray Fund for Marine Research (AMNH) –The University of Kansas General Research Fund –Smithsonian Short-term visitor scholarship –Caribbean Coral Reef Ecosystems Program, Belize. Photos –David Hall –Reinhard Kikinger –Ria Tan People –Luciana C. Gusmão (field buddy and sea anemone taxonomy discussion buddy) –Fellow KU graduate students: Charles W. Linkem, Annalise M. Nawrocki, Yisrael Schnytzer, Jeet Sukumaran –People all over the world who have assisted me with fieldwork (list is too long for this slide) Institutions –NUS, Raffles Museum of Biodiversity, Singapore –Banyan Tree/Angsana resorts, Maldives –CRRF, Palau –CARMABI, Curaçao –McGill Marine Lab, Barbados –Carrie Bow Cay, Belize –Reef Check, Dahab, Egypt –Institute of Marine Science, Zanzibar

14. Thank you!