Phylogeny of Syllidae (Polychaeta) based on morphological data

Abstract

The phylogeny of Syllidae is assessed in two parsimony analyses of 107 morphological characters. The first analysis included one species of each of the 71 genera of the Syllidae, as well as members of other close families. In the second analysis, 23 poorly known genera were excluded. Character information is based on the examination of available types, additional non‐types and newly collected material. Syllidae, except Bollandia Glasby, 1994 is monophyletic. Both analyses supported three of the four traditional subfamilies (Exogoninae, Syllinae and Autolytinae) as monophyletic, whereas Eusyllinae was clearly a polyphyletic group. The genera Anoplosyllis Claparède, 1868, Astreptosyllis Kudenov & Dorsey, 1982, Streptosyllis Webster & Benedict, 1884, Streptospinigera Kudenov, 1983 and SyllidesÖrsted, 1845 comprise a well‐supported monophyletic group, which we classified as a new subfamily: Anoplosyllinae n. subfam. Our results indicated high levels of homoplasy in the morphological characteristics that traditionally used to differentiate groups, such as the fusion of palps and the presence of nuchal epaulettes. Considering the reproductive modes, schizogamy has appeared twice in the family as the derived condition evolving from epigamy, and Exogoninae may be divided into two monophyletic groups based on the brood system.

Sperm ultrastructure of three Syllinae (Annelida, Phyllodocida) species with considerations on syllid phylogeny and Syllis vittata reproductive biology

“…The group has been recently divided into five sub-taxa (Syllinae, Eusyllinae, Autolytinae, Exogoninae and Anoplosyllinae) also according to reproductive characters (Aguado and San Martín 2009). The majority of the syllids reproduce by epitoky, which may be divided into epigamy, characteristic for Anoplosyllinae, Eusyllinae and Exogoninae, and schizogamy (stolonization), characteristic for Syllinae and Autolytinae.…”

Distribution patterns of Syllidae (Annelida: Polychaeta) from seagrass (<i>Zostera marina</i> and <i>Z. noltei</i>) meadows in the Ensenada de O Grove (Galicia, NW Spain)

“…The names of species and higher taxonomic levels used follow the classification by Aguado and San Martín (2009), the MarBEF Data System (ww.marbef.org) and the WoRMS database (www.marinespecies.org).…”

Contribution of Scanning Electron Microscope to the Study of Morphology, Biology, Reproduction, and Phylogeny of the Family Syllidae (Polychaeta)

“…Sharp and detailed SEM photos are extremely useful to illustrate the characters used for phylogenetic analysis, as done by Nygren (1999), Aguado & San Martín (2009), and Aguado et al (in press). Nygren (1999) used one plate with six SEM photos to illustrate 8 characters, and Aguado & San Martín (2009) 5 plates with a total of 33 SEM photos, in which ciliation of segments, body shape, ornamentation (papillae, tubercles, crests, among others) nuchal organs and details of nuchal lappets, details of peristomium and prostomium, size and shape of antennae and cirri, palps, parapodia, chaetae, several kinds of glands, pharyngeal armature, kinds of reproduction, etc., were profusely illustrated. The increasement on the number of characters and detailed descriptions supported more robust hypotheses about evolutionary relationships of syllids.…”