A new sequence data set of SSU rRNA gene for Scleractinia and its phylogenetic and ecological applications.

We are grateful to E. Bourgois (Tara Expeditions), the Tara Oceans Consortium for allowing sampling during the Tara Oceans expedition in Djibouti, Gambier Islands and Mayotte. We thank the commitment of the following people and sponsors who made this singular expedition possible: CNRS, EMBL, Genoscope/CEA, VIB, Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, UNIMIB, ANR (projects POSEIDON/ANR-09-BLAN-0348, BIOMARKS/ANR-08-BDVA-003, PROMETHEUS/ANR-09-GENM-031 and TARA-GIRUS/ANR-09-PCS-GENM-218), EU FP7 (MicroB3/No.287589), FWO, BIO5, Biosphere 2, agnes b., the Veolia Environment Foundation, Region Bretagne, World Courier, Illumina, Cap L'Orient, the EDF Foundation EDF Diversiterre, FRB, the Prince Albert II de Monaco Foundation, Etienne Bourgois, the Tara schooner and its captain and crew. Tara Oceans would not exist without continuous support from 23 institutes (http://oceans.taraexpeditions.org). This article is contribution number 49 of the Tara Oceans Expedition 2009–2012. Collection in New Caledonia was possible thanks to JL Menou, G Lasne (Biotope), the IRD Service plongee and the R/V Alis Captain R Proner and crew (http://dx.doi.org/10.17600/12100060). The Niugini Biodiversity Expedition, P Bouchet (MNHN) and B Dreyfus (IRD) are acknowledged for collections in Papua New Guinea (http://dx.doi.org/10.17600/12100070). The Madang expedition specimens were obtained during the 'Our Planet Reviewed' Papua Niugini expedition organized by Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle (MNHN), Pro Natura International (PNI), Institut de Recherche pour le Developpement (IRD) and University of Papua New Guinea (UPNG), Principal Investigators Philippe Bouchet, Claude Payri and Sarah Samadi. The organizers acknowledge funding from the Total Foundation, Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation, Fondation EDF, Stavros Niarchos Foundation and Entrepose Contracting, and in-kind support from the Divine Word University (DWU). The expedition operated under a permit delivered by the Papua New Guinea Department of Environment and Conservation. Collection in the Marquesas occurred during the 2011 Agences des Aires Marines Protegees (AAMP) ‘Pakaihi o te Moana’ expedition. Sampling in the Maldives was possible thanks to E Dutrieux (CREOCEAN). We are also grateful to E Dutrieux, CH Chaineau (Total SA), R Hirst and M Abdul Aziz (YLNG) for allowing and supporting research in Yemen. The first author is grateful to S Montano (UNIMIB-MaRHE Center) for his help in statistical analyses and to R Hardenstine (KAUST) for her fruitful comments on the text. We thank CA Chen, P Wirtz, A Gori, M Jansen, A Travaglini, C Riva, BW Hoeksema, AH Baird, M Hoogenboom and ZT Richards for kindly providing some coral samples. We thank the two anonymous reviewers for their constructive remarks that improved the manuscript and analyses.