Genetic analyses and microsatellite characterization for formal recognition of new species of host-generalist species of dinoflagellate (Cladocopium, Symbiodiniaceae) mutualistic with Indo-Pacific reef corals collected from 2003 through 2015

These genetic data were used to justify the formal characterization of new species of ‘ecological generalists’ zooxanthellae, the dinoflagellate symbionts living in the tissues of numerous marine animals including corals. Reef-building corals are dependent on endosymbiotic dinoflagellates (Family: Symbiodiniaceae) for their survival and growth but there is almost no taxonomy available for coral symbionts thus limiting research on them. These data include the sequences of genes originating from the nuclear genome, the mitochondrial genome as well as from the chloroplast genome. These sequences were analyzed independently and the resulting phylogenies from these analyses used to test for reciprocal monophyly, a way to verify the evolutionary divergence of two populations. Additionally, microsatellites were analyzed to test boundaries to genetic recombination indicated by the phylogenetic data.