Thouarella Gray, 1870, is one of the most speciose genera among primnoid gorgonians. It has a worldwide distribution that includes Antarctic and sub-Antarctic regions. Based on a combination of detailed morphological studies and analyses using mitochondrial and nuclear DNA markers, we describe and illustrate three new species of bottlebrush-shaped Thouarella from the Weddell Sea, Southern Ocean: T. islai sp. nov., T. weddellensis sp. nov. and T. polarsterni sp. nov. For the morphological description, we used macro-structural characters, such as branching pattern and polyp arrangement, along with axis and micro-structural characters, such as architecture and shapes of scales and their arrangement in polyps. Additionally, we amplified two mitochondrial (mtMutS and Cox1) and one nuclear loci (28S rDNA) obtaining optimal topologies under a Bayesian approach. Resulting molecular phylogenies corroborated the status of the new taxa and elucidated their relationships to closely related species. With the three new species here described, the global diversity of Thouarella has increased to 38 species, 12 of which are endemic to Antarctic and sub-Antarctic waters. The high number of species from higher latitudes of the Southern Hemisphere, the high grade of endemism in this biogeographic area and recent phylogenetic analyses support the idea that the Southern Ocean was likely a centre for Thouarella species radiation.

中文翻译：

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分子和形态学数据揭示了来自南大洋的1870年Thouarella Gray的三个新种（Anthozoa：Octocorallia：Primnoidae）

图瓦雷拉·格雷（Thouarella Gray），1870年，是原始类鼻猴中最特殊的属之一。它的分布范围包括南极和次南极地区。在结合详细的形态学研究和使用线粒体和核DNA标记进行分析的基础上，我们描述和说明了来自南大洋韦德尔海的三种新的瓶形Thouarella菌：T。islai sp。十一月 ，T。weddellensis sp。十一月 和T. polarsternisp。十一月 对于形态描述，我们使用了宏观结构特征，例如分支模式和息肉排列，以及轴和微观结构特征，例如结构和鳞片形状及其在息肉中的排列。此外，我们放大2线粒体（mtMutS和COX1）和一个核位点（28S rDNA的）贝叶斯方法下获得最佳的拓扑结构。由此产生的分子系统学证实了新分类单元的地位，并阐明了它们与密切相关物种的关系。这里描述了三个新物种，图瓦雷拉的全球多样性已经增加到38种，其中12种是南极和南极水域特有的。来自南半球高纬度地区的大量物种，在该生物地理区域内的特有度很高，以及最近的系统发育分析都支持这样的观点，即南大洋可能是图瓦雷拉物种辐射的中心。