FIG 1 - uploaded by Daniel Martin
Content may be subject to copyright.
-Haplosyllis spongicola. A, anterior dorsal view; B, D, F, anterior, medium and posterior chaetae respectively; C, E, G, anterior, medium and posterior aciculae respectively.
Source publication
This is the first contribution to a worldwide taxonomic revision of the closely related genera Haplosyllis (the main goal is to describe species within the Haplosyllis spongicola complex) and Geminosyllis. The type species, Haplosyllis spongicola, is re-described based on the syntypes and other material collected from Spanish seas. A combined taxon...
Contexts in source publication
Context 1
... to posterior end. Size variable, up to 6.5 cm long and 1.5 mm wide. Yellow (small specimens) to brownish (large specimens) in colour. Dark, thin, transverse bands sometimes present on anterior seg- ments. Pair of lateral ciliated nuchal organs located between peristomium and prostomium, only visible under SEM (Fig. 2H). Prostomium pentagonal (Fig. 1A), with two pairs of small eyes arranged trape- zoidally. Antennae long, progressively thinner from base to tip; median antenna inserted on middle of prostomium, longer than lateral ones, up to 0.8 mm for 40 articles. Lateral antennae inserted on anterior margin of prostomium, 0.26-0.80 mm long for 13- 23 articles, up to 0.80 mm. Palps ...
Context 2
... thinner from base to tip; median antenna inserted on middle of prostomium, longer than lateral ones, up to 0.8 mm for 40 articles. Lateral antennae inserted on anterior margin of prostomium, 0.26-0.80 mm long for 13- 23 articles, up to 0.80 mm. Palps long, broadly tri- angular, fused at their bases, but clearly divergent all along their length (Fig. 1A, 2G); sensory organs as two ciliate bands on ventral side of each palp; later- al sensory organs absent ( Fig. 2 C-D). Tentacular segment well defined, shorter than subsequent ones. Tentacular dorsal cirri longer than ventral ones, but shorter than dorsal cirri of first chaetiger, up to 1.10 mm long for 16 to 30 articles. Dorsal cirri ...
Context 3
... Dorsal cirri whip- shaped, similar to antennae; first cirri longer than remaining ones, up to 1.40 mm for 24 to 40 articles. Second cirri smaller than subsequent ones, up to 0.52 mm long for 26 articles. Third, fourth and fifth cirri slightly longer (Table 1). Ventral cirri digiti- form, shorter than parapodial lobes. Chaetae all bidentate (Fig. 1B, 1D, 1F, 2F, 2I), the anterior-most with a thin small main fang (Fig. 1B). Medium and posterior chaetae wider, with a longer, well-defined main fang (Fig. 1D, 1F, 2F, 2I). Small spines on upper side of main fang. Two chaetae per parapodia (occasionally 1 or 3), both with same morphology, but frequently of different sizes. Aciculae broad, ...
Context 4
... than remaining ones, up to 1.40 mm for 24 to 40 articles. Second cirri smaller than subsequent ones, up to 0.52 mm long for 26 articles. Third, fourth and fifth cirri slightly longer (Table 1). Ventral cirri digiti- form, shorter than parapodial lobes. Chaetae all bidentate (Fig. 1B, 1D, 1F, 2F, 2I), the anterior-most with a thin small main fang (Fig. 1B). Medium and posterior chaetae wider, with a longer, well-defined main fang (Fig. 1D, 1F, 2F, 2I). Small spines on upper side of main fang. Two chaetae per parapodia (occasionally 1 or 3), both with same morphology, but frequently of different sizes. Aciculae broad, either enlarged with a pointed tip (Fig. 1C), with a hooked tip ...
Context 5
... subsequent ones, up to 0.52 mm long for 26 articles. Third, fourth and fifth cirri slightly longer (Table 1). Ventral cirri digiti- form, shorter than parapodial lobes. Chaetae all bidentate (Fig. 1B, 1D, 1F, 2F, 2I), the anterior-most with a thin small main fang (Fig. 1B). Medium and posterior chaetae wider, with a longer, well-defined main fang (Fig. 1D, 1F, 2F, 2I). Small spines on upper side of main fang. Two chaetae per parapodia (occasionally 1 or 3), both with same morphology, but frequently of different sizes. Aciculae broad, either enlarged with a pointed tip (Fig. 1C), with a hooked tip directed upwards or with 90° bent, rounded tip (Fig. 1E, 1G), 1 to 6 per parapodia in ...
Context 6
... with a thin small main fang (Fig. 1B). Medium and posterior chaetae wider, with a longer, well-defined main fang (Fig. 1D, 1F, 2F, 2I). Small spines on upper side of main fang. Two chaetae per parapodia (occasionally 1 or 3), both with same morphology, but frequently of different sizes. Aciculae broad, either enlarged with a pointed tip (Fig. 1C), with a hooked tip directed upwards or with 90° bent, rounded tip (Fig. 1E, 1G), 1 to 6 per parapodia in anterior-most segments and only 1 in posterior-most segments. Pharynx orange, similar in length to proventricle, with large tooth (Fig. 2C) surrounded by crown of soft papillae and an inner ring of short, numerous cilia (Fig. 2E). ...
Context 7
... wider, with a longer, well-defined main fang (Fig. 1D, 1F, 2F, 2I). Small spines on upper side of main fang. Two chaetae per parapodia (occasionally 1 or 3), both with same morphology, but frequently of different sizes. Aciculae broad, either enlarged with a pointed tip (Fig. 1C), with a hooked tip directed upwards or with 90° bent, rounded tip (Fig. 1E, 1G), 1 to 6 per parapodia in anterior-most segments and only 1 in posterior-most segments. Pharynx orange, similar in length to proventricle, with large tooth (Fig. 2C) surrounded by crown of soft papillae and an inner ring of short, numerous cilia (Fig. 2E). Proventricle long, rectan- gular, extending through 9 to 10 chaetigers (occa- ...
Context 8
... remarks. Geminosyllis granulosa n. sp. has been repeatedly confused with the Mediterranean specimens identified as H. spongico- la (San Martín, 2003: Fig. 179B), but careful obser- vations reveal that the former can be clearly distin- guished by the presence of 3 to 7 chaetae per para- podia and, more specifically, by the presence of a trepan. Moreover, G. granulosa n. sp. has a slender, medium-sized body, with numerous pores on the dorsum, while H. spongicola has a more robust body reaching ...
Citations
... The polychaete H. spongicola is a common species in the Mediterranean and is associated with all Sponges and hard substrates (Lattig et al., 2007). The alien bivalve Brachidontes pharaonis is a common and abundant species found in the Eastern and Western Mediterranean and extended its range to the North Aegean Sea (Zenetos et al., 2004;Doğan et al., 2008). ...
In the summer of 2021, marine fouling organisms associated with the pearl oyster Pinctada radiata in the natural habitat of Miyami area, Alexandria city, were surveyed, where samples were collected by scuba diving. Eighteen shells of variable sizes were collected to investigate the fouling community's biodiversity that settled on each shell. A total of 1674 organisms representing 106 fouling taxa were identified, weighing a cumulative wet weight of 147.98 g. The community composition consists of 52 taxa of Polychaeta, 19 species of Arthropods, 18 species of Mollusks, 5 species of Bryozoans, 4 species of Chordata, 2 species of Rhodophytes, Anthozoans, and Echinoderms, and one species for Sponge, and Platyhelminth. Species diversity, abundance, and total wet weight were variable among the eighteen studied shells, with higher recorded values on larger shells. The two barnacles (Balanus trigonus and Perforatus perforatus) were the most dominant species, followed by the Syllidae polychaete Haplosyllis spongicola, then the alien mytilid bivalve Brachidontes pharaonis, and the Dorvilleidae alien polychaete (Dorvillea similis). A comparison with other similar studies in the Mediterranean Sea was conducted. Before performing manipulative studies on how biofouling communities might affect aquaculture productivity, it is first necessary to ascertain the composition of these organisms within the desired aquaculture locations.
... In addition to the rise of modern molecular techniques, morphometric analyses have also shown to be a valid and trustful method to assess morphological discrimination between cryptic polychaete species (Koh & Bhaud, 2001;Koh & Bhaud, 2003;Ford & Hutchings, 2005;Glasby & Glasby, 2006;Lattig, San Martín & Martin, 2007;Martin et al., 2017). Morphometry is particularly useful when some of the relevant characters routinely used to define the species within a genus are quantitative and may be, to some extent, size-related. ...
The monitoring of the N’Kossa offshore oil and gas fields in the Republic of Congo allowed us to assess the ecological traits of two polychaete species belonging to Sigambra (Annelida, Pilargidae). Sigambra parva occur in very low densities in all bottoms, except the most impacted, where it is totally absent; it is an undescribed species that reached >4,000 ind/m ² in hydrocarbon-enriched sediments. Their distribution patterns are compared with those of other polychaetes, showing a range of affinities for hydrocarbon-enriched sediments in the N’Kossa region. Our results suggest that S. parva would be a representative of the original local fauna, while the species associated with artificial hydrocarbon-enriched sediments, including the other Sigambra , six more polychaetes and a bivalve, could be natively associated with natural hydrocarbon-enriched sediments, using the former as alternative habitats and as dispersal stepping stones. This ecological segregation, together with a careful morphological and morphometric analyses led us to describe the latter as a new species, namely Sigambra nkossa sp. nov. Moreover, morphometric analysis allowed us to discuss on the taxonomic robustness of the key morphological characters of S. nkossa sp. nov., as well as to emend the generic diagnosis of Sigambra to accommodate the new species.
... According to Hutchings & Kupriyanova (2018), some studies suggest that cosmopolitan polychaetes do exist, but are rare. In fact, the cosmopolitan distribution of several species found herein (i.e., Lysidice ninetta Audouin & H Milne Edwards, 1833, Perinereis cultrifera (Grube, 1840, Arabella iricolor (Montagu, 1804), Phyllodoce madeirensis Langerhans, 1880, Haplosyllis spongicola (Grube, 1855, Syllis alternata Moore, 1908, Syllis gracilis Grube, 1840 and Trypanosyllis zebra (Grube, 1860)) should be questioned since their morphology is hardly distinguishable (Scaps et al., 2000;Maltagliati et al., 2001;Iannotta et al., 2006Iannotta et al., , 2009Lattig et al., 2007;Lattig & Martín, 2009;Carr et al., 2011;Zanol & Ruta, 2015;Álvarez-Campos et al., 2016Álvarez-Campos et al., , 2017Faulwetter et al., 2017;Ravara et al., 2017;Langeneck et al., 2020). On the other hand, the cosmopolitan status of some other species is currently questioned as they might represent species complexes, i.e., Ditrupa arietina (O. ...
The Mediterranean stony coral Cladocora caespitosa (Linnaeus, 1767) is a well-known habitat builder, and as such hosts a diversified faunal assemblage. Although polychaetes are one of the most abundant and diverse macrobenthic groups associated with C. caespitosa colonies, our knowledge of their ecological features in this association is still limited. The aim of this paper was to gather and compare the most comprehensive data available on polychaetes associated with C. caespitosa in the Adriatic and the Aegean Seas, and to test for differences between these geographic areas. To this end, differences were tested in terms of: (i) richness and structure of polychaete assemblages; (ii) feeding and functional traits of assemblages; (iii) the main factors influencing those aspects, (iv) the relationship between polychaete assemblages richness and Cladocora colony size, and estimate richness. Differences were observed between the Adriatic and the Aegean Seas, in terms of richness, species composition and relative proportion of the dominant feeding guild (filter feeders most abundant in the Aegean and carnivores in the Adriatic) and motility mode (sessile most abundant in the Aegean and motile in the Adriatic). Conversely, cosmopolitan and Atlanto-Mediterranean species dominated the assemblages in both geographic areas, and the same Species-Area Relation model proved to be effective for richness estimation in both geographic areas.
... This sponge also accounted for more than 80% of the abundance of the polychaete Haplosyllis spongicola and the brittlestar Ophiotrix fragilis (Table 1). The former is a common species associated with more than 40 host sponges worldwide, where this polychaete obtains its food (Lattig, San Martín & Martin, 2007;Lattig & Martin, 2009). Adult stages of Ophiothrix fragilis are mainly found in small crevices, but sponges seem to play a key role during their early life, although it is uncertain if the recruit's preference for sponges is related to feeding, defence, or both (Turon et al., 2000). ...
• This work constitutes the first comprehensive study of the epifaunal response to biological invasions in coralligenous habitats, which are one of the main hotspots of biodiversity in the Mediterranean.
• The epifaunal community inhabiting the invasive macroalga Rugulopteryx okamurae and other dominant sessile hosts on coralligenous habitats (i.e. the sponge Spongia lamella, the gorgonian Paramuricea clavata, and the macroalga Sphaerococcus coronopifolius) was characterized. A total of 137 taxa were found.
• There was a lack of functional equivalence between macroalgal species (both native and invasive) and sessile invertebrates. Despite the absence of significant differences in mean density values and number of species per replicate among host species, epifaunal composition on gorgonians and sponges differed significantly from that on both macroalgae.
• Epifaunal assemblages, especially those inhabiting macroalgal species, were dominated by generalist detritivorous species that can inhabit different hosts, while specialized interactions between mobile epifauna and sessile hosts were observed almost exclusively on sessile invertebrates. Moreover, epifaunal community associated with invertebrate hosts showed higher spatial heterogeneity in comparison with native and invasive macroalgae.
• A competitive displacement of native hosts by the spreading of R. okamurae on coralligenous habitats would likely result in a biotic impoverishment in terms of overall number of species and a taxonomical and functional homogenization of the epifaunal community. Specialist species with a heterogeneous distribution could be gradually replaced by a spatially homogeneous assemblage dominated by generalist species.
... [539]). Thorough revisions (e.g., [54,58,540,541] have already demonstrated that, in many instances, careful examinations may reveal a hidden diversity larger than previously thought, not only in poorly studied locations but also among "wellknown" species. As already pointed out [522,535,536,538], the lack of long-term taxonomical data in many regions, frequently with large knowledge voids, preclude more sound biogeographic conclusions, a fact that may help to explain the abovementioned lack of studies within the group. ...
Phyllodocida is a clade of errantiate annelids characterized by having ventral sensory palps, anterior enlarged cirri, axial muscular proboscis, compound chaetae (if present) with a single ligament, and of lacking dorsolateral folds. Members of most families date back to the Carboniferous, although the earliest fossil was dated from the Devonian. Phyllodocida holds 27 well-established and morphologically homogenous clades ranked as families, gathering more than 4600 currently accepted nominal species. Among them, Syllidae and Polynoidae are the most specious polychaete groups. Species of Phyllodocida are mainly found in the marine benthos, although a few inhabit freshwater, terrestrial and planktonic environments, and occur from intertidal to deep waters in all oceans. In this review, we (1) explore the current knowledge on species diversity trends (based on traditional species concept and molecular data), phylogeny, ecology, and geographic distribution for the whole group, (2) try to identify the main knowledge gaps, and (3) focus on selected families: Alciopidae, Goniadidae, Glyceridae, Iospilidae, Lopadorrhynchidae, Polynoidae, Pontodoridae, Nephtyidae, Sphaerodoridae, Syllidae, Tomopteridae, Typhloscolecidae, and Yndolaciidae. The highest species richness is concentrated in European, North American, and Australian continental shelves (reflecting a strong sampling bias). While most data come from shallow coastal and surface environments most world oceans are clearly under-studied. The overall trends indicate that new descriptions are constantly added through time and that less than 10% of the known species have molecular barcode information available.
... [539]). Thorough revisions (e.g., [54,58,540,541] have already demonstrated that, in many instances, careful examinations may reveal a hidden diversity larger than previously thought, not only in poorly studied locations but also among "wellknown" species. As already pointed out [522,535,536,538], the lack of long-term taxonomical data in many regions, frequently with large knowledge voids, preclude more sound biogeographic conclusions, a fact that may help to explain the abovementioned lack of studies within the group. ...
Phyllodocida is a clade of errantiate annelids characterized by having ventral sensory palps, anterior enlarged cirri, axial muscular proboscis, compound chaetae (if present) with a single ligament, and of lacking dorsolateral folds. Members of most families date back to the Carboniferous, although the earliest fossil was dated from the Devonian. Phyllodocida holds 27 well-established and morphologically homogenous clades ranked as families, gathering more than 4600 currently accepted nominal species. Among them, Syllidae and Polynoidae are the most specious polychaete groups. Species of Phyllodocida are mainly found in the marine benthos, although a few inhabit freshwater, terrestrial and planktonic environments, and occur from intertidal to deep waters in all oceans. In this review, we (1) explore the current knowledge on species diversity trends (based on traditional species concept and molecular data), phylogeny, ecology, and geographic distribution for the whole group, (2) try to identify the main knowledge gaps, and (3) focus on selected families: Alciopidae, Goniadidae, Glyceridae, Iospilidae, Lopadorrhynchidae, Polynoidae, Pontodoridae, Nephtyidae, Sphaerodoridae, Syllidae, Tomopteridae, Typhloscolecidae, and Yndolaciidae. The highest species richness is concentrated in European, North American, and Australian continental shelves (reflecting a strong sampling bias). While most data come from shallow coastal and surface environments most world oceans are clearly under-studied. The overall trends indicate that new descriptions are constantly added through time and that less than 10% of the known species have molecular barcode information available. Citation: Martin, D.; Aguado, M.T.; Fernández Álamo, M.A.; Britayev, T.A.; Böggemann, M.; Capa, M.; Faulwetter, S.; Fukuda, M.V.; Helm, C.; Petti, M.A.V.; et al. On the Diversity of Phyllodocida (Annelida: Errantia), with a Focus on Glyceridae, Goniadidae, Nephtyi-dae, Polynoidae, Sphaerodoridae, Syllidae and the Holoplanktonic Families. Diversity 2021, 13, 131.
... Nevertheless, there are still species with distributions considered wide and disjunct. Studies based on morphometric and/or molecular analyses have often demonstrated that these "widely distributed" species represented cryptic complexes-where there is little morphological difference in relation to divergence time or considerable genetic distance (Struck et al. 2018)-or alternatively, new to science species, with usually restricted distribution ranges (Maltagliati et al. 2000;Martin et al. 2003;Lattig et al. 2007;Lattig and Martin 2009;Álvarez-Campos et al. 2017a). In some cases, different taxonomic units (e.g., genetic lineages) have been identified, being either some or all not described as separate new species for different reasons (Álvarez-Campos et al. 2017a(Álvarez-Campos et al. , 2017bBa-Akdah et al. 2018). ...
Valuable efforts have been made to describe the diversity of Syllidae Grube, 1850 in Brazilian waters, but only recently, taxonomic accounts of the family from oceanic islands began to be published. Here we reported five species of Exogone Ørsted, 1845 from Rocas Atoll, Fernando de Noronha and Trindade Islands. Exogone rocas sp. nov. is described and Exogone simplex Hartmann-Schröder, 1960 (described and illustrated), Exogone africana Hartmann-Schröder, 1974, Exogone breviantennata Hartmann-Schröder, 1959, and Exogone naidinoides Westheide, 1974 are reported for the first time from Brazilian oceanic islands. Finally, we make considerations about the use of only morphology to identify these species, the doubts on the species records and the possible presence of sibling species under their currently reported distribution range.
... Martin, Meca, Gil, Drake, and Nygren (2017) were able to separate and delineate two distinct lineages from the symbiotic species Oxydromus humesi (Pettibone, 1961) (family Hesionidae) corresponding to Congolese and Iberian populations based on morphometric information alone. Other studies applied similar protocols in a variety of different polychaete groups (Coutinho, Paiva, & Santos, 2015;Ford & Hutchings, 2005;Lattig, San Martín, & Martin, 2007;Meca, Drake, & Martin, 2019). It is also effective in other taxonomic groups such as amphipods ( Bastos-Pereira & Ferreira, 2015;García-Dávila, Magalhães, & Guerrero, 2005) or isopods (KamilarI & Sfenthourakis, 2009). ...
We report on two new lineages of the Eumida sanguinea complex from Great Britain and describe one of them as a new species using a multilocus approach, including the mitochondrial DNA COI‐5P and the nuclear markers ITS (ITS1, 5.8S rRNA and ITS2) and 28S rRNA. The molecular analysis placed Eumida mackiei sp. nov. in a monophyletic clade with 19.1% (COI), 10.1% (ITS) and 1.7% (28S) mean distance to its nearest neighbour. Molecular diagnoses were also applied to nine lineages within the E. sanguinea complex. This was complemented with morphometric data employing multivariate statistical analysis and the incorporation of statistical dissimilarities against three other described species from the complex. Eumida mackiei sp. nov. can be distinguished from E. notata and E. maia by the larger distance between the eyes and differences in morphometric proportions mainly in the dorsal and ventral cirri as well as in the prostomial appendages. E. sanguinea sensu stricto failed to produce a cluster of its own in the morphometric analysis, probably due to juvenile bias. Integrative taxonomy provided strong evidence to formally describe a new cryptic species that can now be used in biomonitoring or other relevant ecological research.
... During the last two decades, different morphometric approaches attempted to discriminate species boundaries in polychaete cryptic and pseudo-cryptic species complexes (e.g., Omena & Amaral, 2001;Ford & Hutchings, 2005;Garraffoni et al., 2006;Lattig et al., 2007;Hernández-Alcántara & Solís-Weiss, 2014;Coutinho et al., 2015;Martin et al., 2017). However, none of them used a combination of morphometrics and genetics to evaluate differentiation levels between populations under different sources of variation, including host-symbiont relationships, a perspective that falls within the framework of integrative taxonomy Padial et al., 2010;Giribet, 2015;Martin et al., 2017). ...
The polychaete Oxydromus okupa lives in association with the bivalves Scrobicularia plana and Maco-mopsis pellucida in the intertidal of Río San Pedro (CI = Cádiz Intertidal) and adjacent to CHipiona (CH) harbour, and in the subtidal of the Bay of Cádiz (CS = Cádiz Subtidal). We analyse these populations morphometrically, ecologically (including infestation characteristics) and genetically (intertidal populations , 16S and ITS-1 genes). We consider "host", "environment" and the combined "host and environment" as possible factors of interpopulation variability. Morphometry revealed three well-defined clusters for CI, CH and CS, showing intergroup phenotypic differences ranging from 35 to 50%. Hosts shell lengths ranged between 26 and 36 mm for S. plana and 20 and 28 mm for M. pellucida. The infestation of small M. pellucida by juvenile O. okupa suggests they show an active size segregation behaviour. The intertidal seems to be less favourable (infestation rate <25% vs. up to 65% in the subtidal), and did not show recent bottleneck events. Overall, CI and CH were genetically homogeneous, but showed a significant divergence (one dominant haplotype in each host species), suggesting host shift as being a soft barrier to gene flow. Most characters related with host-entering varied among populations, suggesting symbiotic behaviour to play a key role in reducing panmixia and leading to the initial phases of a speciation process in sympatric symbiotic populations. Polyxeny and symbiotic behaviour in O. okupa seem thus to be underlying mechanisms contributing to its great phenotypic variety, marked ecological differences, and genetic divergence.
... Nevertheless, there are still species with distributions considered wide and disjunct. Studies based on morphometric and/or molecular analyses have often demonstrated that these "widely distributed" species represented cryptic complexes-where there is little morphological difference in relation to divergence time or considerable genetic distance (Struck et al. 2018)-or alternatively, new to science species, with usually restricted distribution ranges (Maltagliati et al. 2000;Martin et al. 2003;Lattig et al. 2007;Lattig and Martin 2009;Álvarez-Campos et al. 2017a). In some cases, different taxonomic units (e.g., genetic lineages) have been identified, being either some or all not described as separate new species for different reasons (Álvarez-Campos et al. 2017a(Álvarez-Campos et al. , 2017bBa-Akdah et al. 2018). ...
Introdution Up to now, 172 species of Syllidae have been recorded in Brazilian waters, mostly from coastal regions and some from the continental slope and the deep sea. However, only 7 species are known from Brazilian oceanic islands: Rocas Atoll, Fernando de Noronha and Trindade Islands (Fig. 1a), at least 545 km away of the coast but still part of the exclusive economic zone of the country. We directed some efforts to investigate the richness of Syllidae in these islands. Material and Methods The specimens from Fernando de Noronha (Fig. 1a) and Rocas Atoll (Fig.1c) were sampled sporadically through many researchers from 1997 to 2016, and those from Trindade Island (Fig. 1d) were sampled through the ProTrindade project. Specimens were extracted from algae, sponges or scraped from similar substrates from rocks and reefs; syllids were sorted, fixed in 100% ethanol, and preserved in 92% ethanol aiming for future molecular approaches. Results As results, we report herein four new species of Exogoninae: Exogone sp. nov., Salvatoria sp. nov. 1, Salvatoria sp. nov. 2 and Sphaerosyllis sp. nov. Also, we provide the first account of Exogone africana, E. breviantennata, E. naidinoides, E. simplex and Salvatoria sp. in SW Atlantic oceanic islands. Now, 16 species are known from the Southeastern oceanic islands. These findings are already in the final stage of elaboration and the new records and new species to science will be made available in scientific paper very soon. Fig 1. Map of the study area: a, the three Islands in SW Atlantic. b, Fernando de Noronha Island, sites 4 and 5: Buraco da Raquel and Praia do Atalaia; c, Rocas Atoll, sites 3, 4 and 5: Piscina das Âncoras, Piscina do Cemitério and Piscina de Rocas; d, Trindade Island, sites 6 and 7: Praia das Cabritas and Ilha da Racha. Conclusions These records more than double the number of species known for these islands. The for Exogone species recorded herein have been previously recorded from the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans associated with a range of substrates, at a range of depths. With identifications based solely in the morphology, to assume that these species indeed have such broad distribution may hamper conservation efforts and lower our ability to recognize introduced and invasive species, by an underestimation of biodiversity. The use of museum collections and associate DNA sequences to vouchers, and also the continue survey on the species diversities, especially of areas for which no information is available, may minimize these problems.
