A new species of Phyllochaetopterus (Annelida: Chaetopteridae) from deep-sea hydrothermal Ashadze-1 vent field, Mid-Atlantic Ridge: taxonomical description and partial COI DNA sequence

Phyllochaetopterus polus, a new species of the polychaete family Chaetopteridae is described. Specimens were collected at the Ashadze-1 vent field (Mid-Atlantic Ridge), from 4100-4200 m depth. P polus is the first chaetopterid reported from the Atlantic hydrothermal vents. Three chaetopterid species have been recorded from deep-sea hydrothermal vents belonging to two genera, Spiochaetopterus and Phyllochaetopterus. P polus sp. nov. is a medium-sized chaetopterid, characterized by 9 chaetigers in region A and 2 in region B; region C is usually incomplete in the specimens examined, but has at least 40-70 chaetigers. This polychaete has one pair of modified chaetae in chaetiger 4 with a pear-shaped obliquely truncated head, triangular uncini and a branched annulated tube. The species resembles P lauensis Nishi & Rouse, 2007 in most characters but differs by the colour of the ventral shield and tube structure. Blast results of a 655 bp fragment of the mitochondrial DNA COI gene of this new species revealed Phyllochaetopterids as the closest available sequences in Genbank. A phylogenetic tree has been further built using all other COI chaetopterid polychaete sequences found in Genbank to infer phylogenetic position of the new species. It adds to the previous observations of close proximity of communities associated to whale falls and hydrothermal vents communities as the phylogenetically closest species is an undescribed Phyllochaetopterus found around whale fall in Monterey Bay (California).

Keyword(s)

Polychaeta, Hydrothermal vent, Mid-Atlantic Ridge, Taxonomy, New species, COI

Full Text

FilePagesSizeAccess
Publisher's official version
10779 Ko
How to cite
Morineaux Marie, Nishi Eijiroh, Ormos Andrea, Mouchel Olivier (2010). A new species of Phyllochaetopterus (Annelida: Chaetopteridae) from deep-sea hydrothermal Ashadze-1 vent field, Mid-Atlantic Ridge: taxonomical description and partial COI DNA sequence. Cahiers De Biologie Marine. 51 (3). 239-248. https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00013/12439/

Copy this text