Taxonomy and phylogeny of mud owls (Annelida: Sternaspidae), including a new synonymy and new records from the Southern Ocean, North East Atlantic Ocean and Pacific Ocean: challenges in morphological delimitation
Taxonomy and phylogeny of mud owls (Annelida: Sternaspidae), including a new synonymy and new records from the Southern Ocean, North East Atlantic Ocean and Pacific Ocean: challenges in morphological delimitation
Species delimitation in sternaspid polychaetes is currently based on the morphology of a limited suite of characters, namely characters of the ventro-caudal shield—a unique feature of the family. Sternaspid species description has increased rapidly in recent years; however, the validity of the shield as a diagnostic character has not been assessed through molecular means. This study performs the largest molecular taxonomy of Sternaspidae to date, using the nuclear gene 18S, and the mitochondrial genes 16S and cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI) to assess phylogenetic relationships within the family, to reassess the placement of Sternaspidae within the wider polychaete tree and to investigate the effectiveness of the shield as a diagnostic morphological character. This study includes many new records and reports Sternaspis affinis Stimpson, 1864 from USA Pacific coastline and genetic connectivity between specimens identified as Sternaspis cf. annenkovae Salazar-Vallejo & Buzhinskaja, 2013 from off southeastern Australia and specimens identified as Sternaspis cf. williamsae Salazar-Vallejo & Buzhinskaja, 2013 from the northwestern Pacific. In addition, we investigate material identified as Sternaspis cf. scutata (Ranzani, 1817) in the English Channel and compare with S. scutata through both molecular and morphological means. We further perform a detailed morphological and molecular investigation of new sternaspid material collected from the Southern Ocean and Antarctic Peninsula and regard Sternaspis monroi Salazar-Vallejo, 2014 syn. n. as a junior synonym of Sternaspis sendalli Salazar-Vallejo, 2014, two species recently described from the region, raising questions concerning the validity of current morphological delimitation.
16S, 18S, COI, Morphological characters, Polychaeta, Sternaspis
2659-2697
Drennan, Regan
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Wiklund, Helena
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Rouse, Greg W.
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Georgieva, Magdalena N.
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Wu, Xuwen
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Kobayashi, Genki
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Yoshino, Kenji
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Glover, Adrian G.
91192a3a-fc25-4c1f-b062-2e4da183272e
1 December 2019
Drennan, Regan
f810f4e7-de45-4174-9fbc-d3f8062c9c41
Wiklund, Helena
7c228af0-33a8-471f-b0f8-bc1e558cf8ed
Rouse, Greg W.
55a27d86-77f1-4830-894f-1809b643ecbc
Georgieva, Magdalena N.
130fcd1a-effb-4a57-86f8-ad00f8a7d889
Wu, Xuwen
7671f8e6-84d3-4332-b696-36d4003c7043
Kobayashi, Genki
a9cfcc90-0725-4fba-b47f-0d9a902ebfda
Yoshino, Kenji
0b9dde6b-fa20-4e18-a844-c556091fb765
Glover, Adrian G.
91192a3a-fc25-4c1f-b062-2e4da183272e
Drennan, Regan, Wiklund, Helena, Rouse, Greg W., Georgieva, Magdalena N., Wu, Xuwen, Kobayashi, Genki, Yoshino, Kenji and Glover, Adrian G.
(2019)
Taxonomy and phylogeny of mud owls (Annelida: Sternaspidae), including a new synonymy and new records from the Southern Ocean, North East Atlantic Ocean and Pacific Ocean: challenges in morphological delimitation.
Marine Biodiversity, 49 (6), .
(doi:10.1007/s12526-019-00998-0).
Abstract
Species delimitation in sternaspid polychaetes is currently based on the morphology of a limited suite of characters, namely characters of the ventro-caudal shield—a unique feature of the family. Sternaspid species description has increased rapidly in recent years; however, the validity of the shield as a diagnostic character has not been assessed through molecular means. This study performs the largest molecular taxonomy of Sternaspidae to date, using the nuclear gene 18S, and the mitochondrial genes 16S and cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI) to assess phylogenetic relationships within the family, to reassess the placement of Sternaspidae within the wider polychaete tree and to investigate the effectiveness of the shield as a diagnostic morphological character. This study includes many new records and reports Sternaspis affinis Stimpson, 1864 from USA Pacific coastline and genetic connectivity between specimens identified as Sternaspis cf. annenkovae Salazar-Vallejo & Buzhinskaja, 2013 from off southeastern Australia and specimens identified as Sternaspis cf. williamsae Salazar-Vallejo & Buzhinskaja, 2013 from the northwestern Pacific. In addition, we investigate material identified as Sternaspis cf. scutata (Ranzani, 1817) in the English Channel and compare with S. scutata through both molecular and morphological means. We further perform a detailed morphological and molecular investigation of new sternaspid material collected from the Southern Ocean and Antarctic Peninsula and regard Sternaspis monroi Salazar-Vallejo, 2014 syn. n. as a junior synonym of Sternaspis sendalli Salazar-Vallejo, 2014, two species recently described from the region, raising questions concerning the validity of current morphological delimitation.
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Drennan2019_Article_TaxonomyAndPhylogenyOfMudOwlsA
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Published date: 1 December 2019
Keywords:
16S, 18S, COI, Morphological characters, Polychaeta, Sternaspis
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Local EPrints ID: 455470
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/455470
ISSN: 1867-1616
PURE UUID: 393d0b80-0606-40db-bed9-6b92ef34da06
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Date deposited: 22 Mar 2022 17:41
Last modified: 18 Mar 2024 03:53
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Author:
Helena Wiklund
Author:
Greg W. Rouse
Author:
Magdalena N. Georgieva
Author:
Xuwen Wu
Author:
Genki Kobayashi
Author:
Kenji Yoshino
Author:
Adrian G. Glover
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