Abstract:There has been confusion regarding the delineation of genera in the Flabelligeridae. Thus, it is not surprising that some genera like Pherusa Oken, 1807 currently include different body patterns with differing branchial and chaetal features. A revision of all materials available has allowed a standardized approach; one of its results has been the restriction of Pherusa to encompass species provided with eight branchial filaments and anchylosed neurochaetae. At the same time, Stylarioides delle Chiaje, 1831, wi… Show more
The principal animal lineages (phyla) diverged in the Cambrian, but most diversity at lower taxonomic ranks arose more gradually over the subsequent 500 Myr. Annelid worms seem to exemplify this pattern, based on molecular analyses and the fossil record: Cambrian Burgess Shale-type deposits host a single, early-diverging crown-group annelid alongside a morphologically and taxonomically conservative stem group; the polychaete sub-classes diverge in the Ordovician; and many orders and families are first documented in Carboniferous Lagerstätten. Fifteen new fossils of the ‘phoronid’
Iotuba (=Eophoronis) chengjiangensis
from the early Cambrian Chengjiang Lagerstätte challenge this picture. A chaetal cephalic cage surrounds a retractile head with branchial plates, affiliating
Iotuba
with the derived polychaete families ‘Flabelligeridae’ and Acrocirridae. Unless this similarity represents profound convergent evolution, this relationship would pull back the origin of the nested crown groups of Cirratuliformia, Sedentaria and Pleistoannelida by tens of millions of years—indicating a dramatic unseen origin of modern annelid diversity in the heat of the Cambrian ‘explosion’.
The principal animal lineages (phyla) diverged in the Cambrian, but most diversity at lower taxonomic ranks arose more gradually over the subsequent 500 Myr. Annelid worms seem to exemplify this pattern, based on molecular analyses and the fossil record: Cambrian Burgess Shale-type deposits host a single, early-diverging crown-group annelid alongside a morphologically and taxonomically conservative stem group; the polychaete sub-classes diverge in the Ordovician; and many orders and families are first documented in Carboniferous Lagerstätten. Fifteen new fossils of the ‘phoronid’
Iotuba (=Eophoronis) chengjiangensis
from the early Cambrian Chengjiang Lagerstätte challenge this picture. A chaetal cephalic cage surrounds a retractile head with branchial plates, affiliating
Iotuba
with the derived polychaete families ‘Flabelligeridae’ and Acrocirridae. Unless this similarity represents profound convergent evolution, this relationship would pull back the origin of the nested crown groups of Cirratuliformia, Sedentaria and Pleistoannelida by tens of millions of years—indicating a dramatic unseen origin of modern annelid diversity in the heat of the Cambrian ‘explosion’.
“…Salazar-Vallejo (2011) revised the genus Stylarioides and reinstated Stylarioideshirsutus Lo Bianco, 1893, which Fauvel (1927) had synonymised with Stylarioidesmonilifer . Thus, specimens identified using the publication by Fauvel (1927) or works based on it (e.g.…”
BackgroundThe last annotated checklist of marine polychaetes in Greece was published in 2001. Since then, global taxonomic progress, combined with many new species records for Greece, required a thorough review of the taxonomic, nomenclatural and biogeographic status of the national species list. This checklist revises the status of all extant polychaete species reported from the Greek Exclusive Economic Zone since 1832. The work was undertaken as part of the efforts on compiling a national species inventory (Greek Taxon Information System initiative) in the framework of the LifeWatchGreece Research Infrastructure.New informationThis checklist comprises an updated and annotated inventory of polychaete species in Greek waters, compiled from literature reports, online databases, museum collections and unpublished datasets. The list provides information on 836 species-level taxa from Greece, of which 142 are considered questionable. An additional 84 species reported in the past are currently considered absent from Greece; reasons for the exclusion of each species are given. Fourteen species are reported here for the first time from Greek waters. At least 52 species in the present list constitute in fact a complex of cryptic or pseudo-cryptic species. Forty-seven species are considered non-native to the area. In addition to the species-level taxa reported in this checklist, eleven genera have been recorded from Greece with no representatives identified to species level. One replacement name is introduced. For each species, a comprehensive bibliographic list of occurrence records in Greece and the synonyms used in these publications are provided as supplementary material. Where necessary, the taxonomic, nomenclatural or biogeographic status is discussed. Finally, the findings are discussed in the wider context of Mediterranean polychaete biogeography, taxonomic practice and worldwide research progress.
“…For example, Flabelliderma has been redefined recently and it is no longer a monotypic genus ( Salazar-Vallejo 2007 ). Coppingeria has been merged into Stylarioides delle Chiaje, 1831, as indicated elsewhere ( Salazar-Vallejo, in press ), and Therochaetella has been regarded as a junior synonym of Trophoniella Caullery, 1944 ( Salazar-Vallejo, submitted ).…”
Diplocirrus Haase, 1915, includes flabelligerids having cylindrical to club-shaped bodies, with cirriform papillae, multiarticulate chaetae in both parapodial rami, 8 branchial filaments of two types (thick and rarely lamellate, or cirriform), gonopodial lobes in chaetigers 5 or 6, or multiple gonopores along some anterior chaetigers. Bradiella Rullier, 1965, has included only the type species: Bradiella branchiata Rullier, 1965, described from Eastern Australia. The original description has been overlooked and it lacked enough details on branchial and chaetal features. Diversibranchius Buzhinskaja, 1993, with Diplocirrus nicolaji Buzhinskaja, 1994, as the type species, was introduced for a similar species from the Japan Sea. These two monotypic genera share the same morphologic features with Diplocirrus, and are herein regarded as its junior synonyms. As herein redefined, Diplocirrus includes, besides its type species, Diplocirrus glaucus (Malmgren, 1867)from Scandinavia : Diplocirrus branchiatus (Rullier, 1965), comb. n. from Queensland, Australia, Diplocirrus capensis Day, 1961 from South Africa, Diplocirrus erythroporus Gallardo, 1968 from Vietnam, Diplocirrus hirsutus (Hansen, 1882) from Arctic and subarctic regions, Diplocirrus incognitus Darbyshire & Mackie, 2009 from South Africa, Diplocirrus kudenovi sp. n. from off Western Mexico, Diplocirrus longisetosus (von Marenzeller, 1890) restricted to the Bering Sea, Diplocirrus micans Fauchald, 1972 from deep water off Oregon and Western Mexico, Diplocirrus nicolaji (Buzhinskaja, 1994), comb. n. from the Japan Sea, Diplocirrus normani (McIntosh, 1908), comb. n. from Scandinavia, Diplocirrus octobranchus (Hartman, 1965), comb. n. from off New England, and Diplocirrus stopbowitzi Darbyshire & Mackie, 2009 from the Irish Sea.
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