Molecular phylogenetics of Haustrinae and Pagodulinae (Neogastropoda: Muricidae) with a focus on New Zealand species

Abstract

We investigated the relationships of the muricid subfamilies Haustrinae, Pagodulinae and the genus Poirieria using a molecular phylogenetic approach on a dataset of three mitochondrial genes (12S, 16S and COI). These taxa form a well-supported clade within Muricidae. The phylogenetic analysis suggests that Poirieria is the sister group of Pagodulinae and that Axymene, Comptella, Pagodula, Paratrophon, Trophonella, Trophonopsis, Xymene, Xymenella, Xymenopsis and Zeatrophon are all worthy of genus-level rank within this subfamily. We propose the use of Enixotrophon for a group of species currently classified in Pagodula. The results also support a new taxonomic arrangement in Haustrinae.