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Systematics, phylogeny and biogeography
RESEARCH ARTICLE

Integrative taxonomy in Syllis prolifera (Annelida, Syllidae): from a unique cosmopolitan species to a complex of pseudocryptic species

Irene del Olmo https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5448-1039 A # * , Josep Roma-Cavagliani B # , María del Rosario Martín-Hervás https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9673-2673 A B , Joachim Langeneck https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3665-8683 C , Juan Lucas Cervera B D and Patricia Álvarez-Campos https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9472-2378 A *
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Centro de Investigación en Biodiversidad y Cambio Global (CIBC-UAM), Departamento de Biología (Zoología), Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain.

B Departamento de Biología, Facultad de Ciencias del Mar y Ambientales, Campus de Excelencia Internacional del Mar (CEI•MAR), Universidad de Cádiz, Avenida República Saharaui, s/n, E-11510 Puerto Real, Spain.

C Consorzio Interuniversitario per le Scienze del Mare (CoNISMa), Unità Locale di Ricerca (ULR) di Lecce, c/o Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Biologiche ed Ambientali (DiSTeBA), Palazzina A, Campus Ecotekne, strada provinciale Lecce-Monteroni, I-73100 Lecce, Italy.

D Instituto Universitario de Investigación Marina (INMAR), CEI•MAR, Universidad de Cádiz, Avenida República Saharaui, s/n, E-11510 Puerto Real, Spain.

# These authors contributed equally to this paper

Handling Editor: Ana Riesgo

Invertebrate Systematics 38, IS24004 https://doi.org/10.1071/IS24004
Submitted: 5 January 2024  Accepted: 21 May 2024  Published: 19 June 2024

© 2024 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing.

Abstract

Syllis prolifera (Syllidae, Syllinae) is an abundant species of marine annelids commonly found in warm to temperate waters worldwide. Although morphological variability occurs among populations, S. prolifera has long been considered a cosmopolitan species, widely distributed in coastal environments, including acidified and polluted areas. However, the increasing number of cases of cryptic and pseudocryptic speciation in several polychaete families in recent years has led us to question whether S. prolifera represents a single globally distributed taxon or is a species complex. To address this question, we conducted an integrative study, combining morphological, ecological and molecular data of 52 S. prolifera specimens collected in different localities across the western Mediterranean Sea and the Gulf of Cadiz. Our phylogenetic and species delimitation analyses that included two mitochondrial DNA markers (COI and 16S rRNA) were congruent in not considering S. prolifera a unique entity. Five distinct lineages that can also be recognised by certain morphological and ecological traits were identified from these analyses instead. Overall, our study does not support the homogeneity of S. prolifera across the Mediterranean Sea, providing a new example of pseudocrypticism in marine invertebrates.

Keywords: biodiversity, Gulf of Cádiz, Mediterranean Sea, molecular taxonomy, pseudocryptic species, species delineation, Syllidae, Syllis prolifera.

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