Morphological phylogeny of the families Phyllophoridae and Sclerodactylidae

Currently, the order Dendrochirotida comprises about 800 species, half of these being within the families Sclerodactylidae and Phyllophoridae. Regardless, most information about these families is from old morphological revisions (Phyllophoridae in 1954 and Sclerodactylidae not reviewed). This study appears as the first formal test of the monophyly of the families Sclerodactylidae and Phylllophoridae and their respective subfamilies. The present project will constitute a detailed morphological study of the structures that compose the Holothuroidea endoskeleton which are the dermal ossicles and calcareous ring to achieve through a cladistic analysis the following objectives: (i) to test the monophyly of Phyllophoridae; (ii) to test the monophyly of Sclerodactylidae; (iii) to test the monophyly of the Phyllophoridae subfamilies and (iv) to test the monophyly of the subfamilies of Sclerodactylidae.