About the Authors

Felipe Zapata

felipe_zapata@brown.edu

Affiliation Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, United States of America

Freya E. Goetz

Current address: Department of Invertebrate Zoology, Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, Washington District of Columbia, United States of America

Affiliation Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, United States of America

Stephen A. Smith

Current address: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States of America

Affiliation Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, United States of America

Mark Howison

Affiliations Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, United States of America, Computing and Information Services, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, United States of America

Stefan Siebert

Affiliation Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, United States of America

Samuel H. Church

Current address: Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America

Affiliation Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, United States of America

Steven M. Sanders

Current address: University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America

Affiliation Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, United States of America

Cheryl Lewis Ames

Affiliations Department of Invertebrate Zoology, Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, Washington District of Columbia, United States of America, Biological Sciences Graduate Program, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, United States of America

Catherine S. McFadden

Affiliation Department of Biology, Harvey Mudd College, Claremont, California, United States of America

Scott C. France

Affiliation Department of Biology, The University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Lafayette, Louisiana, United States of America

Marymegan Daly

Affiliation Department of Evolution, Ecology and Organismal Biology, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, United States of America

Allen G. Collins

Affiliations Department of Invertebrate Zoology, Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, Washington District of Columbia, United States of America, National Systematics Laboratory of NOAA’s Fisheries Service, National Museum of Natural History, Washington, District of Columbia, United States of America

Steven H. D. Haddock

Affiliation Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, Moss Landing, California, United States of America

Casey W. Dunn

Affiliation Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, United States of America

Paulyn Cartwright

Affiliation Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, United States of America

Competing Interests

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: PC CWD. Performed the experiments: FEG SS. Analyzed the data: FZ. Wrote the paper: PC FZ CWD. Assembled 454 data and performed initial analyses: SAS. Performed SOWH tests: SHC. Generated Hydractinia and Podocoryna data: SMS PC. Led octocoral sampling: CSM SCF. Led hexacoral sampling: MD. Generated Alatina alata data: CLA AGC PC. Collected many medusozoans: SHDH. Assisted with data management, submission, and analysis implementation: MH. Drew line illustrations of animals: FEG.