New light into the hormogastrid riddle: morphological and molecular description of Hormogaster joseantonioi sp. n. (Annelida, Clitellata, Hormogastridae)

By

Fernández Marchán, Daniel
Fernández, Rosa
Novo, Marta
Diaz Cosin, Dario

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2014

Original Publication

ZooKeys

Volume

414

Pages

1-17

Subjects

disjunct distribution , earthworm , integrative taxonomy , Phylogeny , species description

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Sofia, Bulgaria Pensoft Publishers

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.414.7665

 

Abstract

The earthworm family Hormogastridae shows a remarkable disjunction in its distribution in the Iberian Peninsula, with the Hormogaster elisae species complex isolated from the rest of the species. Hormogaster joseantonioi sp. n., a new species found in the intermediate area between the main ranges (in Teruel, Aragón), was described following the integrative approach, as it is suitable for earthworms due to their highly homoplasic morphology. The phylogenetic analysis of the molecular markers placed the new species as a sister taxon to H. elisae, thus showing the colonizing lineage of Central Iberian Peninsula could have originated near the H. joseantonioi sp. n. current range. External morphological characters revealed some degree of overlap with previously described species, but internal characters presented configurations/states unknown from other members of the family. These traits make the new species a key piece to understand the evolution of Hormogastridae.