The molecular tree topologies bear little similarity to the results of a recent cladistic analysis based on skeletal morphology and are at odds with the fossil record. This, in combination with the fact that many species were not monophyletic, suggests either that introgressive hybridization is occurring or that lineage sorting is incomplete. Although the compositions of the major clades in the phylogenies based on these two markers were similar, there were several important differences. Molecular phylogenies were obtained for 28 species using DNA sequence analyses of two independent markers, a nuclear intron and the mtDNA putative control region. This study examines molecular relationships across a wide range of species in the mass spawning scleractinian coral genus Acropora.
