Meeting Abstract
P1.28 Thursday, Jan. 3 Cryptic species of Diopatra neapolitana (Polychaeta: Onuphidae) from western Europe BERKE, Sarah*; MAHON, Andrew; HALANYCH, Ken; WOODIN, Sarah; Univ. of South Carolina; Auburn Univ.; Auburn Univ.; Univ. of South Carolina berke@biol.sc.edu
Diopatra neapolitana is a commercially important polychaete harvested for bait in the Mediterranean and southern Europe. Like other members of the genus, D. neapolitana structurally dominates infaunal communities by building large vertical tubes in intertidal and subtidal sediments; these tubes are typically decorated with large fragments of foreign matter. D. neapolitana was originally described from the Mediterranean, and subsequently reported from numerous localities worldwide. However, it is not known whether these localities reflect a single cosmopolitan species, or instead morphologically similar species within a larger species complex. Here we show that D. neapolitana in western Europe consists of at least two species, based on mitochondrial DNA sequences. While these species are morphologically similar, they build very different tubes. The species described from central Portugal to the northeastern Bay of Biscay in France builds a tube that emerges above the sediment surface and is slightly hooked (much like the tube-cap of D. cuprea from the eastern US). The species described from the central Atlantic coast of Spain into the Mediterranean, builds a tube that terminates at or just above the sediment surface. The aperture opens at a slight angle to the sediment. These species often co-occur in northern Portugal and Spain. These data suggest that D. neapolitana should be considered a species complex. D. neapolitana is commonly transported between countries as part of the bait trade. These data emphasize the likelihood that this practice will promote establishment of non-native species. Given that Diopatra species are commercially and ecologically important, the international transport of bait worms should be more carefully examined.
