Integrative taxonomy of West African Magelona (Annelida: Magelonidae): species with thoracic pigmentation

Abstract

Benthic samples collected during several cruises from shelf areas along the West African coast from Morocco to Angola, have highlighted a huge diversity of magelonid species (over 20 species), many of which are undescribed. The majority of samples were taken as part of two large-scale projects in the region: the Canary Current Large Marine Ecosystem project (CCLME) and the Guinea Current Large Marine Ecosystem project (GCLME). Six magelonid species bearing posterior thoracic pigmentation have been highlighted, Magelona alleni and five species new to science: Magelona fasciata sp. nov., Magelona guineensis sp. nov., Magelona mackiei sp. nov., Magelona nanseni sp. nov. and Magelona picta sp. nov. West African magelonids and comparative material from the UK and Norway have been investigated using COI, 16S and 28S markers. An integrated taxonomic approach is used to delineate species of Magelona carrying posterior thoracic pigmentation. These species from West African waters constitute a well-supported monophyletic group, with the species M. alleni being sister to the new species herein described. Our 41 COI DNA-barcode-sequences had between species distances from 9.3 to 26.8% and were allocated to ten different BINs in Boldsystems.org.

First Report on Three Lesser-Known Magelona Species from Korean Waters: Details of All Thoracic Chaetigers and Methyl Green Staining Patterns

“…Additionally, a recent study based on anatomical and ecological observations of Magelona species proposed that the terms commonly identified as peristomium and proboscis in other polychaeta taxa should be replaced with "achaetous first segment" and "burrowing organ", respectively, to better align with their specific functions [5,24]. In addressing this issue, the morphological criteria and standardized terms proposed by renowned taxonomic specialists in Magelona, Mortimer et al [13,24,25] and Parapar et al [2], may be highly effective in clearing up existing confusion. Notably, their emphasis on the comprehensive illustration and detailed description of all thoracic chaetigers in taxonomic treatments stands out as a crucial contribution.…”

Impact of historic sediment characterisation on predicting polychaete distributions: a case study of so-called muddy habitat shovelhead worms (Annelida: Magelonidae)

“…The Magelonidae is a small family of marine annelids, consisting of 81 extant species within the genus Magelona F. Müller, 1858 (Mortimer and Mackie, 2006; Mortimer et al ., 2021a, 2021b). Magelonid worms are recorded in most of the world's regions and the Temperate Northern Atlantic is one of the most diverse in terms of the number of known magelonid species, which could be partially attributed to geographic bias of taxonomic work in the region.…”

“…Even with the magnitude of records available for these species, habitat descriptions are often based largely on information from the original descriptions, despite several uncertainties. For example, information on the type locality for M. alleni was not clearly defined by Wilson (1958), the sediment type was based upon visual judgement alone, being noted as abundant in black sandy mud off Rame Head, which Mortimer et al (2021b) concluded to be approximately 60 m deep. The type locality of M. minuta was simply described as shelly mud with a small amount of sand (Eliason, 1962).…”