Taxonomy of some species of the genus Syllis (Annelida: Syllidae: Syllinae) from the Red Sea found among the first colonizers of an artificial substrate

ABSTRACT

During a study on the Syllidae (Annelida) inhabiting artificial panels in the Red Sea, five species have appeared as the first colonizers in the first sampling carried out after three months: Syllis crassicirrata (Treadwell, 1925); Syllis gerlachi (Hartmann-Schröder, 1960); Syllis picta (Kinberg, 1866); Syllis schulzi (Hartmann-Schröder, 1960); and Syllis warrnamboolensis (Hartmann-Schröder, 1987). Syllis gerlachi and S. schulzi, already known from the Red Sea, are re-described on the basis of the collected material and type-specimens. The other three species, S. picta, S. warrnamboolensis and S. crassicirrata, recently re-described from Australia, are new for the Red Sea. The most abundant species, S. crassicirrata, shows an interesting variation of colour pattern, which may indicate the presence of a complex of pseudo-cryptic species. A molecular phylogeny was also performed in order to investigate the evolutionary relationships of the Red-Sea species within the genus Syllis.

SUBJECT EDITOR:

• Danny Eibye-Jacobsen

KEYWORDS:

• Annelida
• Syllidae
• phylogeny
• re-description
• biofouling
• Red Sea

Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge with thanks DSR for technical and financial support. In addition, the authors are indebted to Miguel Ángel Fernández, Pilar Martínez and Inmaculada Ors (UAM) for their help and their useful advices with the molecular work.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Sathianeson Satheesh http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7809-720X

Additional information

Funding

This project was funded by the Deanship of Scientific Research (DSR) at King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, under grant no. G -215-150-37.