Sphaerosyllis levantina sp. n. (Annelida) from the eastern Mediterranean, with notes on character variation in Sphaerosyllis hystrix Claparède, 1863

By

Faulwetter, Sarah
Chatzigeorgiou, Georgios
Galil, Bella
Nicolaidou, Artemis
Arvanitidis, Christos

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2011

Original Publication

ZooKeys

Volume

150

Pages

327-345

Subjects

cybertaxonomy , Exogoninae , Mediterranean , new species , polychaetes , Scratchpads , Sphaerosyllis , Syllidae

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Sofia, Bulgaria Pensoft Publishers

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.150.1877

 

Abstract

Examination of polychaete specimens from Haifa Bay (Israel, eastern Mediterranean Sea) revealed several individuals exhibiting morphological characteristics similar to Sphaerosyllis hystrix Claparède, 1863. A detailed morphometrical analysis of the Israeli specimens in comparison to specimens of S. hystrix and S. boeroi Musco, Çinar & Giangrande, 2005 supported the description of the former as a new species, S. levantina sp. n. Individuals of S. hystrix formed a very heterogeneous group with strong character variations in the analysis and the presumed cosmopolitan distribution of the species is discussed based on literature records.