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Most gorgonian octocoral species are described using diagnostic characteristics of their sclerites (microscopic skeletal components). Species in the genus  Pterogorgia , however, are separated primarily by differences in their calyx and branch morphology. Specimens of a morphologically unusual  Pterogorgia  collected from Saba Bank in the NE Caribbean Sea were found with calyx morphology similar to  P .  citrina  and branch morphology similar to  P .  guadalupensis . In order to test morphological species boundaries, and the validity of calyx and branch morphology as systematic characters, a phylogenetic analysis was undertaken utilizing partial gene fragments of three mitochondrial ( mtMutS , cytochrome  b , and  igr 4; 726bp total) and two nuclear ( ITS2 , 166bp; and  SRP54  intron, 143bp) loci. The datasets for nuclear and mitochondrial loci contained few phylogenetically informative sites, and tree topologies did not resolve any of the morphological species as monophyletic groups. Instead, the mitochondrial loci and  SRP54  each recovered two clades but were slightly incongruent, with a few individuals of  P .  guadalupensis  represented in both clades with  SRP54 . A concatenated dataset of these loci grouped all  P .  anceps  and  P .  guadalupensis  in a clade, and  P .  citrina  and the  Pterogorgia  sp. from Saba Bank in a sister clade, but with minimal variation/resolution within each clade. However, in common with other octocoral taxa, the limited genetic variation may not have been able to resolve whether branch variation represents intraspecific variation or separate species. Therefore, these results suggest that there are at least two phylogenetic lineages of  Pterogorgia  at the species level, and the atypical  Pterogorgia  sp. may represent an unusual morphotype of  P .  citrina , possibly endemic to Saba Bank. Branch morphology does not appear to be a reliable morphological character to differentiate  Pterogorgia  species (e.g., branches “flat” or “3–4 edges” in  P .  guadalupensis  and  P .  anceps , respectively), and a re-evaluation of species-level characters (e.g., sclerites) is needed.

Molecular and Morphological Species Boundaries in the Gorgonian Octocoral Genus Pterogorgia (Octocorallia: Gorgoniidae)