Polychaetes of Greece: an updated and annotated checklist

Abstract

BackgroundThe last annotated checklist of marine polychaetes in Greece was published in 2001. Since then, global taxonomic progress, combined with many new species records for Greece, required a thorough review of the taxonomic, nomenclatural and biogeographic status of the national species list. This checklist revises the status of all extant polychaete species reported from the Greek Exclusive Economic Zone since 1832. The work was undertaken as part of the efforts on compiling a national species inventory (Greek Taxon Information System initiative) in the framework of the LifeWatchGreece Research Infrastructure.New informationThis checklist comprises an updated and annotated inventory of polychaete species in Greek waters, compiled from literature reports, online databases, museum collections and unpublished datasets. The list provides information on 836 species-level taxa from Greece, of which 142 are considered questionable. An additional 84 species reported in the past are currently considered absent from Greece; reasons for the exclusion of each species are given. Fourteen species are reported here for the first time from Greek waters. At least 52 species in the present list constitute in fact a complex of cryptic or pseudo-cryptic species. Forty-seven species are considered non-native to the area. In addition to the species-level taxa reported in this checklist, eleven genera have been recorded from Greece with no representatives identified to species level. One replacement name is introduced. For each species, a comprehensive bibliographic list of occurrence records in Greece and the synonyms used in these publications are provided as supplementary material. Where necessary, the taxonomic, nomenclatural or biogeographic status is discussed. Finally, the findings are discussed in the wider context of Mediterranean polychaete biogeography, taxonomic practice and worldwide research progress.

Goniadella bobrezkii (Annenkova, 1929) (Annelida, Polychaeta): first record in the Italian waters

“…This study represents the first record of Goniadella bobrezkii (as well as the first record of the genus Goniadella) in the Italian coastal waters and the second record of this species in the Mediterranean waters. According to the literature, in the Mediterranean Sea, the species has been only reported in Greek waters (Arvantidis 2000, Costello et al 2001, Faulwetter et al 2017. In the European waters, this species is commonly distributed in the Black Sea (Annenkova 1929, Böggemann 2005 and around the North Eastern Atlantic coasts, England, France, Belgium and North Sea (Wolff and Stengega 1975, Kirkegaard 2001, Böggemann 2005, Read and Fauchald 2018b.…”

“…Within the Goniadidae, Goniadella Hartman, 1950 is recognizable by the presence of uniramous anterior parapodia followed by a region with sub-biramous parapodia. Their notochaetae are acicular, whereas neurochaetae include compound falcigers and spinigers in all parapodia (Böggemann 2005, Faulwetter et al 2017. Currently, this genus comprises 8 species with 4 reported for European waters (Costello et al 2001): Goniadella bobrezkii (Annenkova, 1929), G. galaica (Rioja, 1923), G. gracilis (Verrill, 1973), andG.…”

“…This species is identifiable by the number of uniramous anterior parapodia (21-24) and by the position of the acicular notochaetae arising dorsal to dorsal cirri (Böggemann 2005). In European waters, G. bobrezkii which was originally described from the Black Sea (Annenkova 1929, Böggemann 2005, has been found in the North Sea and along the North East Atlantic coasts (France and Spain) (Wolff and Stengega 1975, Kirkegaard 2001, Böggemann 2005, Read and Fauchald 2018b, whereas, for the Mediterranean it has been reported only in Greece (Arvanitidis 2000, Faulwetter et al 2017. During SCUBA surveys performed in 2015 and 2016, the goniadid G. bobrezkii was collected from a shallow-water bed of Posidonia oceanica (L.) Delile off Civitavecchia, Central Tyrrhenian Sea.…”

Hyboscolex sp.: the first find of the family Scalibregmatidae (Annelida) in the Black Sea

“…In the Eastern Mediterranean, the presence of the following members of Scalibregmatidae is indicated: Asclerocheilus intermedius (Saint-Joseph, 1894), A. capensis Day, 1963, Polyphysia crassa fauveli (Laubier, 1959, Scalibregma celticum Mackie, 1991, S. inflatum Rathke, 1843, Sclerocheilus minutus Grube, 1863, Hyboscolex longiseta Schmarda, 1861(Ç nar, Da li, Kurt Șahin, 2014Faulwetter et al, 2017). Thus our data is the first record of Scalibregmatidae from the Azov-Black Sea basin and the new species for the Mediterranean basin.…”

A new species ofProtodorvillea(Polychaeta: Dorvilleidae) from the Western Mediterranean Sea

“…Only four of the 10 known species of Protodorvillea are reported in the Mediterranean. Protodorvillea biarticulata Day, 1963 was reported in the eastern and central Mediterranean Sea (Zenetos et al 2010;Çinar 2013); it was recorded from Greece and Egypt (Simboura et al 1995;Abd-Elnaby & Gab-Alla 2007;Faulwetter et al 2017). Protodorvillea egena (Ehlers, 1913) was reported from the Mediterranean (Zenetos et al 2005(Zenetos et al , 2010Coll et al 2010;Occhipinti-Ambrogi et al 2011;Cinar 2013) and first recorded along the Italian coasts, from Sicily (Cantone 2001), likely introduced through the Suez Canal as lessepsian migrant (Amoureux 1983).…”