to divide the group into five suborders. In addition, they considered polypoid features such as the growth of the tentacles. They also distinguished families by wall type and type of budding. The 1952 classification by French zoologist J. Alloiteau was built on these earlier systems but included more microstructural observations and did not involve the anatomical characters of the polyp. Alloiteau recognized eight suborders. In 1942, W.H. Bryan and D. Hill stressed the importance of microstructural observations by proposing that stony corals begin skeletal growth by configuring calcification centers, which are genetically derived. Therefore, diverse patterns of calcification centers are vital to classification. Alloiteau later showed that established morphological classifications were unbalanced and that there were many examples of convergent evolution between fossils and recent taxa. The rise of molecular techniques at the end of the 20th century prompted new evolutionary hypotheses that were different from ones founded on skeletal data. Results of molecular studies explained a variety of aspects of the evolutionary biology of the Scleractinia, including connections between and within extant taxa, and supplied support for hypotheses about extant corals that are founded on the fossil record. The 1996 analysis of mitochondrial RNA undertaken by American zoologists Sandra Romano and Stephen Palumbi found that molecular data supported the assembling of species into the existing families, but not into the traditional suborders. For example, some genera affiliated with different suborders were now located on the same branch of a phylogenetic tree. In addition, there is no distinguishing morphological character that separates clades, only molecular differences. The Australian zoologist John Veron and his co-workers analyzed ribosomal RNA in 1996 to obtain similar results to Romano and Palumbi, again concluding that the traditional families were plausible but that the suborders were incorrect. They also established that stony corals are monophyletic, including all the descendants of a common ancestor, but that they are divided into two groups, the robust and complex clades. Veron suggested that both morphological and molecular systems be used in future classification schemes. Conservation All Scleractinian corals (excluding fossils) are listed under Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) meaning that their international trade (including in parts and derivatives) is regulated. Families The World Register of Marine Species lists the following families as being included in the order Scleractinia. Some species have not been placeable (Incertae sedis): Acroporidae Agariciidae †Agathiphylliidae Anthemiphylliidae Astrocoeniidae Caryophylliidae Coscinaraeidae