Publication Date:
2022-05-25
Description:
Author Posting. © The Authors, 2010. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Royal Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Biology Letters 7 (2011): 449-453, doi:10.1098/rsbl.2010.0923.
Description:
An intriguing new annelid, Teuthidodrilus samae (Annelida, Cirratuliformia) gen.
and sp. nov., was observed and collected during deep water column exploration of the
western Celebes Sea. The Celebes Sea is a deep pocket basin, effectively isolated from
surrounding deep water, and is part of the Coral Triangle, a focal area for conservation
because of its high diversity and unique geological history. Collected specimens reached
94 mm in length and possessed 10 anterior appendages that were as long or longer than
the body. Two characters distinguish T. samae from other polychaetes: notochaetae
forming broad, concavo-convex paddles, and six pairs of free-standing, oppositely
branched nuchal organs. Phylogenetic analysis of five genes and a 29 character
morphological matrix showed that T. samae is an acrocirrid (primarily benthic
polychaetes) belonging to the morphologically diverse swimming clade. Pelagic animals
within primarily benthic clades are of particular interest in evolutionary biology, because
their adaptations to life in the water column inform us of the evolutionary possibilities
and constraints within the clade and indirectly of the selective pressures at work in this
unfamiliar habitat. This new genus illustrates how much we have to learn about even the
large, abundant inhabitants of deep-pelagic communities.
Description:
Funding was provided to LPM by grants from NOAA’s Office of Ocean
Exploration and WHOI Ocean Life Institute, with additional support from the National
Geographic Society. The University of California President’s Postdoctoral Fellowship
provided funding to KJO.
Keywords:
Acrocirridae
;
Celebes Sea
;
Pelagic
;
Polychaeta
;
Teuthidodrilus samae
Repository Name:
Woods Hole Open Access Server
Type:
Preprint
Format:
application/pdf
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