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Five colour morphs and three new species of Gyptis (Hesionidae, Annelida) under a jetty in Edithburgh, South Australia
Author(s) -
Pleijel Fredrik,
Rouse Greg,
Nygren Arne
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
zoologica scripta
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.204
H-Index - 64
eISSN - 1463-6409
pISSN - 0300-3256
DOI - 10.1111/j.1463-6409.2008.00356.x
Subject(s) - biology , polychaete , jetty , phylogenetic tree , dorsum , zoology , genus , anatomy , ecology , biochemistry , geomorphology , gene , geology
We report five different colour morphs of the hesionid polychaete genus Gyptis co‐occurring in a small area in shallow water under Edithburgh jetty, South Australia. The five morphs cannot be separated using standard morphological features, but phylogenetic analyses of sequence data (COI and ITS1) unequivocally show that three species are present, introduced as Gyptis simpsonorum , new species, G. paucilineata , new species and G. polymorpha , new species. Gyptis simpsonorum has a speckled pigmentation pattern and G. paucilineata a few transverse lines on specific segments. Gyptis polymorpha is polymorphic with three different, distinct pigmentation patterns, either as dense transverse lines, as a thin longitudinal, mid‐dorsal line, or as an uniformly dark dorsum. The speckled pigmentation likely represents the plesiomorphic condition, and G. propinqua is the closest known relative to these new species.