Fixing the identity of Scolelepis squamata (Annelida: Spionidae) – neotype designation, redescription and DNA barcode sequences

Abstract

The identity of Scolelepis squamata (O.F. Müller, 1806) (Spionidae) has long been under debate. For clarification of this problem a collection of Scolelepis specimens at the type locality of this species, the island of Helgoland (North Sea) and in particular the Helgoland Dunes, has been undertaken. Based on morphological and molecular studies the occurrence of only one Scolelepis species can be reported in the eulittoral zone. The specimens are in good accordance with the morphology of S. squamata. Based on these newly collected specimens S. squamata is redescribed and illustrated comprehensively, and, in addition, molecular information on several markers is provided. A neotype has been designated and deposited in the collection of the Zoological Museum at Hamburg University, Germany. Molecular phylogenetic analyses based on COI, 18S rRNA and 28S rRNA reveal little genetic diversity along the Atlantic coast from Helgoland to Portugal and thus support the occurrence of S. squamata in these coastal regions of the Eastern North Atlantic Ocean. Our results further indicate the presence of a distinct Scolelepis species in the Black Sea, which is closely related to S. squamata. Also, S. mesnili is reinstated as a valid species. Furthermore, it is shown that several earlier genetic studies had misidentified S. squamata specimens wrongly as S. foliosa or S. bonnieri, highlighting the need for the taxonomic redescription as well as for providing DNA barcodes from unambiguously identified specimens.

http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:0D6C3783-FF06-4D84-8D92-B8691E88F0B9

Key words:

• 18S rRNA
• 28S rRNA
• COI
• cryptic species
• DNA barcoding
• Helgoland
• morphology
• NE Atlantic

Acknowledgements

VS was supported by a personal research fellowship of the German Academic Exchange Service, DAAD (No. 57378441). Many thanks to Nuria Anadón, Andrés Arias and Irene Fernández Rodríguez (Universidad de Oviedo, Spain), Julio Parapar (Universidade da Coruña, Spain), and Vasilică Chinan (Universitatea ‘Alexandru Ioan Cuza’ din Iaşi, Romania) for their assistance in sample collection. Katrin Philipps-Bussau and Petra Wagner (Zoological Museum Hamburg, Germany), Andreas Bick (Zoological Collections of the University of Rostock, Germany), Dieter Fiege (Senckenberg Museum Frankfurt, Germany), Emma Sherlock (National Museum of Natural History, London, UK), Tarik Meziane (Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France), Ascensão Ravara (Universidade de Aveiro, Portugal), and Javier Sánchez Almazán (Muséo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, Madrid, Spain) are kindly acknowledged for arranging loans of material from their collections for the present study. Christoph Bleidorn (University of Göttingen, Germany) kindly provided a voucher specimen from Sylt (Germany) as well as the original sequencing data. Renate Walter (University of Hamburg, Germany) assisted with SEM studies, while Sabine Holst (DZMB Hamburg, Germany) helped with LM photographs. We are grateful to Emanuel Baltag (Universitatea ‘Alexandru Ioan Cuza’ din Iaşi, Romania) for preparing Fig. 2. Sarah Faulwetter (National and Kapodestrian University of Athens, Greece) is kindly acknowledged for providing a thorough guidance on carrying out morphometric statistical analyses. Special thanks for the staff of the Biologische Anstalt Helgoland (BAH, Germany) for providing working facilities during sample collection on Helgoland. We are also indebted to Eivind Oug for clarifying issues regarding the history of Müller’s publications.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplemental material

Supplemental material for this article can be accessed here: https://doi.org/10.1080/14772000.2021.2003906.

Associate Editor: Christoph Bleidorn

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the German Academic Exchange Service under Grant 57378441.