Back to top

SFS Annual Meeting

Poster Details

<< Back to Posters

A MULTI-LOCUS PERSPECTIVE OF GLOBAL CRAYFISH PHYLOGENY

Crayfishes are a diverse monophyletic lineage of decapod crustaceans represented by two superfamilies, Astacoidea in the Northern Hemisphere, and Parastacoidea in the Southern Hemisphere. Recent studies have estimated the split between superfamilies to have occurred between 185 and 268 million years ago. The primary objective of our study is to use a multi-locus approach to understand the phylogenetic history of crayfishes, focusing particularly on deep, and poorly supported nodes within previous phylogenetic reconstructions. We retrieved all nucleotide data from GenBank for Astacoidea and Parastacoidea. From this complete dataset, we selected 18 loci, both nuclear and mitochondrial, that included at least one representative of each of the three crayfish families. We assessed phylogenetic informativeness of each locus and filtered the data accordingly. Phylogenetic analyses were run using both a maximum likelihood and Bayesian framework. Our results stress the importance of critical assessment of gene selection and data filtration. In addition, these results provide insight into the evolutionary history of crayfishes globally, and can be used as a basis for future examination of global biogeography of these organisms.

Zachary Dillard (Primary Presenter/Author), Department of Natural Science and Mathematics, West Liberty University, West Liberty, West Virginia 26074, ZWDILLARD@westliberty.edu;


Bronwyn Williams ( Co-Presenter/Co-Author), North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, bronwyn.williams@naturalsciences.org;


Zachary Loughman ( Co-Presenter/Co-Author), West Liberty University, zloughman@westliberty.edu;