Molecular phylogenetics of the Neanthes acuminata (Annelida: Nereididae) species complex

Abstract

Reish, D.J., Anderson, F.E., Horn, K.M. and Hardege, J. 2014. Molecular phylogenetics of the Neanthes acuminata (Annelida: Nereididae) species complex . Memoirs of Museum Victoria 71: 271-278.The Neanthes acuminata (Nereididae) species complex is a broadly distributed group of marine benthic polychaetous annelids that is known by many names around the world and comprises at least four species. They are the only nereidids known that show exclusively male parental care. The female dies after laying her eggs in a common mucoid tube where they are fertilized, and the male incubates the eggs until the young leave the tube. All of the species in the N. acuminata complex are identical in their morphological characteristics and they all possess a similar number of segments and paragnath distribution and similarly shaped parapodia. However, populations from the U.S. East Coast, southern California, Hawaii and Portugal differ in chromosome number. Eye and egg colour also vary among populations-some worms in southern California have red eyes and produce bright yellow/orange eggs, while others have black eyes and produce pale yellow eggs. These variations suggest that N. acuminata may represent multiple evolutionarily significant units. Clarification of the phylogenetic relationships among lineages in this species complex will provide a framework for studying character evolution and revising taxonomy within this intriguing group of nereidids. To that end, we sequenced regions of one nuclear and two mitochondrial genes from worms sampled from multiple sites in North America (southern California, Mexico and Connecticut), the central Pacific (Hawaii) and Europe (Germany, Portugal and the UK). Maximum likelihood and Bayesian analyses of these data clarify relationships in this complex and show that worms sampled from California and Mexico represent two geographically intermingled subclades. These two subclades are congruent with eye and egg colour data; one subclade consists of red-eyed worms, the other consists of black-eyed worms. Furthermore, we found evidence that individuals representing these subclades can occasionally be found at the same locality.

LifeWatchGreece: Research infrastructure (ESFRI) for biodiversity data and data observatories

“…Rice et al (2008) provide molecular evidence of at least three putative cryptic species present in North America. Reported from Greece by .…”

Polychaetes from the Caribbean coast of Colombia: An updated checklist and some taxonomic annotations

“…For example, the revision of terebelids polychaetes in Colombia (Londoño-Mesa, 2011) led to a reduction in the number of recorded genera, but the number of species records increased in about 50% (Londoño-Mesa, 2017). Likewise, there are cases of species complexes waiting to be solved such as Neanthes acuminata and N. caudata (Reish, et al, 2014), Lumbriconereis latreilli and L. floridiana (Carrera-Parra 2001), Cirriformia filigera and Timarete filigera (Magalhãe, et al, 2014), which could lead to an increase in the number of species records for Colombia. Species recorded for the first time in previous checklists lack species diagnoses, information on methods and habitat, and vouchers in biological collections.…”

Polychaetes of Greece: an updated and annotated checklist

“…Reish et al (2014) recovered four different putative cryptic species of Neanthes acuminata from worldwide locations (based on specimens traditionally referred to the species Neanthes acuminata , Neanthes caudata , and Neanthes arenaceodentata Moore, 1903, all of which are morphologically indistinguishable but could not be recovered by the analyses). From Europe, only specimens from Portugal were included in the analyses and it is currently unknown whether more cryptic species exist.…”

“…From Europe, only specimens from Portugal were included in the analyses and it is currently unknown whether more cryptic species exist. Concerning nomenclature, Neanthes acuminata sensu lato should be used to refer to the species complex (Reish et al 2014). While the name Neanthes caudata is often found in literature for the European species, it is not an available name.…”