Up date! Preliminary data of new species in the world

 

Molecular phylogenetic analysis based on mitochondrial 16S rRNA regions of specimens from Japan (Red), North Sea (Green), New Caledonia (Light Green) and Indonesia (Orange)

Today. I added molecular data of specimens of Asteronyx loveni from INDONESIA and reconstructed molecular phylogenetic tree and it showed slightly different topology from the previous one. A specimen from Indonesia (Group 3) did not formed clade with any other specimens in my tree. Furthermore, specimens from north sea (Group 1) and a specimen from Japan (Group 2) also separated from any other specimens. These evidences indicate that the all 3 clades might be potential new species!

To prove they are really new species or not, collecting of more specimens (more than 10 specimens) are required not only to reconstruct more accurate molecular phylogenetic tree, but also to observe their morphological characters. However, I have only obtained 1 to 3 specimens for each clade. Your supports allow me to travel from Japan to European museums which possess many specimens of A. loveni in the world!

Thank you.

Masanori