The specific status of the two cirratulid polychaetes, Dodecaceria fimbriata and D . caulleryi , compared by their morphology and methods of reproduction

• Published in: Canadian Journal of Zoology
• Main Author: Gibson, Peter H.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Canadian Science Publishing 1979
• Subjects: Animal Science and Zoology; Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics; North Atlantic
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/z79-187; http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/z79-187

Dodecaceria fimbriata and D. caulleryi occur on opposite sides of the north Atlantic. Because of their morphological similarity various authors have suggested that they may be the same species. Both reproduce by asexual fragmentation as atokes and then sexually as epitokes. The sizes of the entire body or regions of the body of three types of individual and two types of fragment produced asexually by each species were compared statistically. The numbers of one of the types of fragment were also compared. The result of this statistical comparison and the similarity in the methods of reproduction suggest that the species are the same. The type specimens for the atokes of the two species do not exist and therefore could not be compared. However, comparable specimens sampled from both sides of the Atlantic were found to be morphologically identical. On the basis of the quantitative and qualitative findings the two species are the same and therefore D. caulleryi should be called D. fimbriata.