A new member of the genus Antarctonemertes (Hoplonemertea, Nemertea) from Antarctic waters

• Published in: Polar Biology
• Main Authors: Taboada Moreno, Sergio, Leiva , Carlos, Junoy Pintos, Juan María, Alexander , Frances, Riesgo , Ana
• Other Authors: Universidad de Alcalá. Departamento de Ciencias de la Vida. Unidad docente Zoología
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2018
• Subjects: Barcode gap; Casey Station; Deception Island; Haplotype network; Phylogeny; Taxonomy; Zoología; Zoology; Antarctic; Southern Ocean; Joubin; Antarc*; Australian Antarctic Division; Polar Biology
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10017/59394; https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-018-2298-1

11 p. The phylum Nemertea is an important component of the benthic ecosystems of the Southern Ocean, but its biodiversity is still relatively poorly known in Antarctic waters. There are few common and well-known nemertean species occurring in the shallow Antarctic waters, and these include the congeneric Antarctonemertes valida (Bürger, 1893) and Antarctonemertes riesgoae Taboada et al., 2013, two relatively small brooding hoplonemerteans whose females lay eggs inside cocoons. A third Antarctic member of the genus, Antarctonemertes belgica (Bürger, 1904), was reported only in the original descrip-tion. Here we document the existence of a fourth Antarctic member of the genus Antarctonemertes originally described as Tetrastemma unilineatum Joubin, 1910. Our phylogenetic analysis resulted into the placement of the new Antarctonemertes in a robustly supported clade ?Antarctic Antarctonemertes? containing the other two congeneric Antarctic species (A. valida and A. riesgoae), and pairwise COI molecular distances between the three species ranged from 5.2 to 6.2% (p distance). The analysis of 104 COI sequences of the three species showed star-like haplotype networks, as in other studies on Antarctic invertebrates. Antarctonemertes unilineata comb. nov. is similar in shape to its Antarctic congeneric relatives and its most prominent morphological character is a dorsal mid-longitudinal band present along the body. We also document the pres-ence of a cocoon built by females of A. unilineata comb. nov., a character shared with its Antarctic congeners analysed here. Although the four Antarctic Antarctonemertes species appear to overlap their distribution, A. riesgoae, A. valida and A. belgica appear in sympatry in the West Antarctic shores while A. unilineata comb. nov. has been mainly found in the East Antarctic shores and sub-Antarctic Islands. Distantcom Australian Antarctic Division