Evolutionary and Biogeographical Patterns of Barnacles from Deep-Sea Hydrothermal Vents

Due to their widespread but discontinuous distribution, deep-sea hydrothermal vent barnacles represent an excellent model for testing biogeographic hypotheses regarding the origin, dispersal, and diversity of modern vent fauna. Here we characterize the global genetic diversity of vent barnacles to infer their time of radiation, place of origin, mode of dispersal, and diversification. We also performed restriction-site associated DNA sequencing on individuals from multiple species of vent barnacles species.