The “Spaghetti Project”: the final identification guide to European Terebellidae (sensu lato) (Annelida, Terebelliformia)

Abstract

This paper is the conclusion of the “Spaghetti Project” aiming to revise French species of Terebellidae sensu lato (s.l.) belonging to the five families: Polycirridae, Telothelepodidae, Terebellidae sensu stricto (s.s.), Thelepodidae and Trichobranchidae. During this project, 41 species were observed, 31 of them new for science: eight species of Polycirridae, eleven species of Terebellidae s.s., three species of Thelepodidae and nine species of Trichobranchidae. We provide a comprehensive key for all European species of terebellids with a focus on the important diagnostic characters for each family. Finally, we discuss issues on taxonomy, biodiversity and cryptic and pseudo-cryptic species of polychaetes in European waters, based on results obtained during this project.

Five new species of Terebellides (Annelida, Polychaeta, Trichobranchidae) from Papua New Guinea (Bismarck and Solomon seas)

“…In this study, we describe five new species of Terebellides from coastal and deep waters, using both morphological and molecular tools. The use of molecular data (such as the 16S gene) is essential as many cryptic species of Terebellides have very restricted distributions (Nygren et al, 2018;Lavesque et al, 2021). Finally, an identification key for the species of Terebellides from the Central Indo-Pacific region is provided.…”