Systematic re-structure and new species of Sphaerodoridae (Annelida) after morphological revision and molecular phylogenetic analyses of the North East Atlantic fauna

• Published in: ZooKeys
• Main Authors: Capa, María, Nygren, Arne, Parapar, Julio, Bakken, Torkild, Meißner, Karin, Moreira, Juan
• Other Authors: UAM. Departamento de Biología
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Pensoft Publishers 2020
• Subjects: 16S rRNA; 18S rRNA; 28S rRNA; Classification; COI; Identification key; Integrative taxonomy; Morphology; New genus; New species; Phylogeny; Systematics; Biología y Biomedicina / Biología; Bakken; Norway; North East Atlantic
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10486/691484; https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.845.32428

Detailed morphological study of more than 2600 North East Atlantic (NEA) sphaerodorids (Sphaerodoridae, Annelida) and phylogenetic analyses of DNA sequences of representatives of several identified morphospecies enforced changing the current systematic classification within the family, allowed the discovery of new species, provided new information about the morphological and genetic characterisation of members of this group, and increased the species occurrence data to better infer their geographic and bathymetric distribution ranges. Phylogenetic analyses of nuclear (18S rRNA and 28S rRNA) and mitochondrial sequences (COI and 16S rRNA) of NEA short-bodied sphaerodorids revealed outstanding results including paraphyly of the genera Sphaerodoropsis, Sphaerodoridium, and Sphaerephesia. The number of longitudinal and transverse rows of dorsal macrotubercles is proposed as potential synapomorphies for the main clades, and are consequently herein used for the genera delimitation. The new classification proposed here implies nomenclatural changes and the erection of a new genus, Geminofilum gen. n., to accommodate the species previously considered as Sphaerodoropsis with two transverse rows of dorsal macrotubercles per segment. Four species are being described herein: Euritmia nordica Capa & Bakken, sp. n., Sphaerephesia multichaeta Capa, Moreira & Parapar, sp. n., Sphaerephesia ponsi Capa, Parapar & Moreira, sp. n., and Sphaerodoridium celiae Moreira, Capa & Parapar, sp. n. Characterisation of the other 21 species, including updated iconography, and an identification key to all NEA short-bodied sphaerodorids are provided Financial support was provided to MC by ForBio Research School, funded by the Research Council of Norway (project no. 248799) and the Norwegian Taxonomy Initiative (project no. 70184215) and by the Ramón y Cajal program (RYC-2016-20799) funded by the Spanish Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad, Agencia Estatal de Investigación, Comunidad Autónoma de las Islas Baleares and the European Social Fund. The Norwegian Taxonomy Initiative provided financial support to AN (knr 49-13, pnr 70184228), to TB (knr 53-09, pnr 70184216, knr 55-12, pnr 70184227); and by the Swedish Taxonomy Initiative [https://www.artdatabanken.se/en/the-swedish-taxonomy-initiative/] (dnr 140/07 1.4 and 166/08 1.4), to AN. Collections at MNCN and MNHN were visited by MC thanks to the European Commission Taxonomic Initiative SYNTHESYS (ES-TAF-2839, ES-TAF-7033, and FR-TAF-2644), SEM work was partially funded by Fauna Ibérica: Polychaeta VI (CGL2014-53332-C5-3-P). Publication fees were covered by NTNU Publishing Fund to MC