Placozoan Taxonomy

在前三年的资助，我们已经表明，正式单型门Placozoa（唯一有效的物种是Trichoplax adhaerens）窝藏至少22个不同的谱系（单倍型），这是遗传，形态和生态分离良好。因此，我们建立了21个新的物种假说，我们严格测试的综合动态循环的方法。对于后者，我们从各种分子和生物特征中收集尽可能多的信息。 初步数据表明，深分支模式之间的22个单倍型和存在的几个更高的分类分支。因此，迫切需要对扁平动物门进行严格的分类修订。这为我们提供了一个完全独特的机会，使用这个门作为一个tabula Rasa的例子，探索经典的方法，分类使用林奈（基于等级）的原则和另一个新提出的（但有争议的）方法，分类称为Phylocode。完成数据收集和进行系统分析，预计将揭示多达21个新的扁形动物物种和一个真正的新的分类方法。

In the first three years of funding we have shown that the formally monotypic phylum Placozoa (the only valid species being Trichoplax adhaerens) harbors at least 22 distinct lineages (haplotypes), which are genetically, morphologically and ecologically well separated. Thus we have erected 21 new species hypotheses, which we rigorously test by an integrative dynamic circle approach. For the latter we collect as much information as possible from a variety of molecular and organismal characters. The preliminary data suggest deep branching patterns between the 22 haplotypes and the existence of several higher taxonomic clades. Thus the phylum Placozoa is in dire need for a rigorous taxonomic revision. This provides us with the completely unique opportunity to use this phylum as a tabula rasa example to explore classical approaches to taxonomy using Linnaean (rank based) principles and another newly proposed (and yet controversial) approach to taxonomy called the Phylocode. Finishing up data collection and performing the systematic analyses is expected to reveal up to 21 new placozoan species and a genuinely new taxonomy for the phylum Placozoa.