Researcher
Biology and Evolution of Marine Organisms Department
Genoa Marine Centre (GMC)
Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn–National Institute of Marine Biology, Ecology and Biotechnology
Villa del Principe, Piazza del Principe 4, 16126 Genoa, Italy
Tel. +39 081 5833678
E-mail: roberto.arrigoni(at)szn.it
Google scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=j_UXCOcAAAAJ&hl=it&oi=ao
ERC sector - Phylogenetics, systematics, comparative biology (LS8_8)
Settore scientifico-disciplinare - Zoologia (BIO/05)
Research Interests
I am interested in the study of biodiversity of scleractinians (Cnidaria, Scleractnia), the so-called stony corals. In particular, most of my researches are focused on the hard corals living in shallow-water environments of tropical and subtropical seas in the Indo-Pacific, representing the major reef-building organisms of coral reefs worldwide. I also work on scleractinian corals living in temperate environments such as the Mediterranean Sea and in mesophotic and deep habitats. My research is about different aspects of the biology of these marine invertebrates, including biodiversity, systematics, taxonomy, phylogeny, species delimitation, biogeography, evolution, ecology, and symbiosis with animals and other taxa. With the aim to investigate these topics, I use an integrated approach, combining data from genetics, morphology, and ecology, within a phylogenetic framework. The morphological analyses include light and electron microscopy, while the genetic analyses include the use of both traditional barcoding genes and genomic data obtained with Next Generation Sequencing approaches such as RADseq and metabarcoding.
Selected Publications
Juszkiewicz, D.J., White, N.E., Stolarski, J., Benzoni, F., Arrigoni, R., Hoeksema, B.W., Wilson, N.G., Bunce, M., & Richards, Z.T. (2022). Phylogeography of recent Plesiastrea (Scleractinia: Plesiastreidae) based on an integrated taxonomic approach. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 172, 107469.
Arrigoni, R., Berumen, M.L., Stolarski, J., Terraneo, T.I., & Benzoni, F. (2018). Uncovering hidden coral diversity: a new cryptic lobophylliid scleractinian coral genus from the Indian Ocean. Cladistics, 35, 301-328.
Arrigoni, R., Benzoni, F., Terraneo, T.I., Caragnano, A., & Berumen, M.L. (2016). Recent origin and semi-permeable species boundaries in the scleractinian coral genus Stylophora from the Red Sea. Scientific Reports, 6, 34612.
Arrigoni, R., Kitano, Y.F., Stolarski, J., Hoeksema, B.W., Fukami, H., Stefani, F., Galli, P., Montano, S., Castoldi, E., & Benzoni, F. (2014). A phylogeny reconstruction of the Dendrophylliidae (Cnidaria, Scleractinia) based on molecular and micromorphological criteria and its ecological implications. Zoologica Scripta, 43, 661-688.
Arrigoni, R., Stefani, F., Pichon, M., Galli, P., & Benzoni, F. (2012). Molecular phylogeny of the Robust clade (Faviidae, Mussidae, Merulinidae, and Pectiniidae): an Indian Ocean perspective. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 65, 183-193.
