The resurrection of the genus <i>Bergia</i> (Anthozoa, Zoantharia, Parazoanthidae)

The genus <i>Bergia</i> was established by Duchassaing de Fonbressin and Michelotti in 1860, for two species, <i>Bergia catelunaris</i> and <i>B. vialactea</i>. Subsequently, in 1903 Duerden recognized these two species as conspecific, and used <i>B. catelunaris</i> in favour of <i>B. vialactea</i>, and transferred <i>B. catelunaris</i> to the genus <i>Parazoanthus</i>. However, over the last decade, it has been found that the genus <i>Parazoanthus</i> is actually polyphyletic and therefore it has gradually been divided and redefined. Based on phylogenetic analyses, <i>Parazoanthus sensu stricto</i> was recently limited to species which form associations with sponges, but it still comprised of three distinctive and monophyletic subclades. Of these clades, one <i>Parazoanthus</i> clade contains the type species for <i>Parazoanthus</i>, <i>P. axinellae</i>, while another clade was recently described as the genus <i>Umimayanthus</i> based on mitochondrial 16S-rDNA sequences. However, the other remaining <i>Parazoanthus</i> clade contains <i>P. catenularis</i>, the original type species of the genus <i>Bergia</i>. Based on a concatenated set of published data for five molecular markers (18S-rDNA, 28S-rDNA, ITS1/5.8S/ITS2-rDNA, 16S-rDNA and COI-DNA), this study confirms the monophyly of <i>Bergia</i> in the context of Parazoanthidae. The phylogenetic analyses strongly support the resurrection of the genus <i>Bergia</i> as a valid taxonomic unit.