Phylogenetic relationships among giant clam species (Mollusca: Tridacnidae) determined by protein electrophoresis

Analyses of allozyme variation at 26 loci in eight species of giant clams, collected from the Western Pacific between 1989 and 1991, have confirmed the major groupings currently recognised within the family Tridacnidae on the basis of morphological characters: the two genera Hippopus and Tridacna, and the subgenera within Tridacna; i.e. Chametrachea (comprising T.squamosa, T.crocea and T.maxima), Tridacna sensu stricto (containing only T. gigas), and Persikima (comprising T. derasa and T. tevoroa). All these groupings were each supported by several shared characters. In contrast to previous views, Persikima was found to be intermediate between Chametrachea and T. gigas. Although statistical support for branch lengths linking Chametrachea and T. gigas was limited in maximum-likelihood analyses, the occurrence of several shared alleles between these groups, and none shared between only Chametrachea and Persikima, suggests a closer relationship between Chametrachea and T. gigas or, at least, an unresolved trichotomy. Morphological data traditionally assumed to support a closer association of Chametrachea and Persikima demonstrated that only one shared character linked subgenera, and this character supported an evolutionary association between Chametrachea and T. gigas. These findings, together with the number of shared characters supporting the subgenus Persikima, suggest that Persikima is the most basal offshoot of the Tridacna line, and that the group may deserve generic status. Received: 21 November 1997 / Accepted: 24 March 1998