Author Contributions
Lynne M. Christianson designed the study, primers, collected, amplified and sequenced most of the ctenophores, and helped draft the manuscript. Shannon B. Johnson helped to amplify and sequence some of the ctenophores, performed statistical analyses, and drafted the manuscript. Darrin T. Schultz provided valuable specimens, transcriptomic data, mitochondrial sequences, and edited the manuscript. Steven H.D. Haddock helped conceive the study, provided specimens, funding, transcriptomic data, performed statistical analyses and helped to draft the manuscript.