石珊瑚起源的形态学和分子系统学研究

石珊瑚是现代最重要的造礁动物，在地质史的过去和现在都非常重要。石珊瑚的起源一直是珊瑚研究中颇有争议的重大问题：石珊瑚究竟是起源于古生代的皱壁珊瑚、一种石珊瑚形珊瑚，还是一类软体海葵，目前还很难下定论。建立在现代石珊瑚及其化石的形态学特征基础上的传统研究手段和新兴的分子系统学分析手段，是研究石珊瑚起源问题的2种主要方法。用分子生物学方法测定了珊瑚的18S rDNA，构建了珊瑚纲珊瑚的系统发育树，对当前国际上争论纷纷的有关石珊瑚起源问题进行了形态学和分子系统学的比较研究，以期为更好地解决石珊瑚起源问题提供思路。

Morphological and Molecular Systematic Study on the Origin of Scleractinia

Scleractinia, one of the most important builders of modern reefs, are important today and in the geologic past. As one of the most important problems in the coral study, the origin of Scleractinia has remained shrouded in controvery: There is no agreement on whether Scleractinia originated from Paleozoic Rugosa, or a kind of scleractiniamorphs, or a group of anemones. The traditional way based on the morphological characters of extant Scleractinia and their fossil record and the molecular systematics are two means used to study the origin of Scleractinia. The authors used the way of molecular biology to sequence corals’18S rDNA, and reconstructed Class Anthozoan’s phylogenetic trees. The authors conducted comparative study of morphology and molecular systematics, and tried to solve these conflicting problems about the origin of Scleractinia.