The Cnidarian Tree of Life Project

Ph.D Candidate, Departamento de Genética e Biologia Evolutiva - Instituto de Biociências, Universidade de São Paulo

Systematics of Leptothecata

I am a current PhD candidate in Dr. Antonio Marques's laboratory at the University of São Paulo, Brazil. My research interest is Leptothecata´s systematics, the richest group of Hydrozoa with over 2000 species described. The classical systematics of this group has been debated over a century and recent studies have discussed the difficulties to define “criteria and rules”, such as classification schemes focusing just one part of the life cycle (polyp or medusa), or the emphasis on some sets of characters such as the types of gonads. My major goal is to define a modern Leptothecata´s systematics based on molecular markers and a gene expression profile for the metagenesis based on ESTs. My role in CnidToL, together with our lab technician Sabrina Baroni, is to assist with molecular markers and the molecular phylogenetic analysis of various hydrozoans.