TY - JOUR N2 - Brittle stars (Echinodermata: Ophiuroidea) comprise over 2,000 species, all of which inhabit marine environments and can be abundant in the deep sea. Morphological plasticity in number and shape of skeletal parts, as well as variable colors, can complicate correct species identification. Consequently, DNA sequence analysis can play an important role in species identification. In this study we compared the genetic variability of the mitochondrial cytochrome c subunit I gene (COI) and the nuclear small subunit ribosomal DNA (SSU, 18S rDNA) to morphological identification of 66 specimens of 11 species collected from the North Atlantic in Icelandic waters. Also two species delimitation tools, Automatic Barcode Gap Discovery (ABGD) and General Mixed Yule Coalescence Method (GMYC) were performed to test species hypotheses. The analysis of both gene fragments was successful to discriminate between species and provided new insights into some morphological species hypothesis. Although less divergent than COI, it is helpful to use the SSU region as a complementary fragment to the barcoding gene. L1 - http://www.czasopisma.pan.pl/Content/99576/PDF/10183_Volume35_Issue2_06_paper.pdf L2 - http://www.czasopisma.pan.pl/Content/99576 PY - 2014 IS - No 2 EP - 260 DO - 10.2478/popore−2014−0011 KW - Icelandic waters KW - ophiuroids KW - echinoderms KW - ABGD KW - COI KW - GMYC KW - SSU A1 - Arbizu, Pedro Martínez A1 - Sahar Khodami A1 - Stöhr, Sabine A1 - Laakmann, Silke PB - Polish Academy of Sciences PB - Committee on Polar Research DA - 2014 T1 - Molecular Species Delimitation of Icelandic Brittle Stars (Ophiuroidea) SP - 243 UR - http://www.czasopisma.pan.pl/dlibra/publication/edition/99576 T2 - Polish Polar Research ER -