A new species of the Spirobranchuskraussii complex, S.akitsushima (Annelida, Polychaeta, Serpulidae), from the rocky intertidal zone of Japan

Eijiroh Nishi; Hirokazu Abe; Katsuhiko Tanaka; Naoto Jimi; Elena K Kupriyanova

doi:10.3897/zookeys.1100.79569

A new species of the Spirobranchuskraussii complex, S.akitsushima (Annelida, Polychaeta, Serpulidae), from the rocky intertidal zone of Japan

Zookeys. 2022 May 12:1100:1-28. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.1100.79569. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Eijiroh Nishi¹, Hirokazu Abe^{2

3}, Katsuhiko Tanaka⁴, Naoto Jimi^{5

6}, Elena K Kupriyanova^{7

8}

Affiliations

¹ College of Education, Yokohama National University, Hodogaya, Yokohama 240-8501, Japan Yokohama National University Yokohama Japan.
² Department of Biology, Center for Liberal Arts & Sciences, Iwate Medical University, Idaidori 1-1-1, Yahaba, Shiwa-gun, Iwate 028-3694, Japan Iwate Medical University Yahaba Japan.
³ Current address: Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Ishinomaki Senshu University, Shinmito 1, Minamisakai, Ishinomaki, Miyagi 986-8580, Japan Ishinomaki Senshu University Ishinomaki Japan.
⁴ Department of Marine Biology, School of Marine Science and Technology, Tokai University, 3-20-1, Orido, Shimizu, Shizuoka-shi, Shizuoka 424-8610, Japan Tokai University Shimizu Japan.
⁵ Sugashima Marine Biological Laboratory, Graduate School of Science, Nagoya University, 429-63 Sugashima, Toba, Mie 517-0004, Japan Nagoya University Toba Japan.
⁶ Centre for Marine and Coastal Studies, Universiti Sains Malaysia 11800 USM, Penang, Malaysia Universiti Sains Malaysia Penang Malaysia.
⁷ Australian Museum Research Institute, Australian Museum, 1 William Street, Sydney 2010 NSW, Australia Australian Museum Sydney Australia.
⁸ Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University, North Ryde NSW 2109, Australia Macquarie University North Ryde Australia.

Abstract

A new species of Spirobranchus (Annelida: Serpulidae) is described based on specimens collected at the coastal Shonan area of Sagami Bay and the adjacent areas of Honshu, Japan. Spirobranchusakitsushima sp. nov. forms large aggregations in the intertidal rocky zone of warm-temperate Japanese shores. This species was referred to as Pomatoleioskraussii (Baird, 1864) until the monotypic genus Pomatoleios was synonymized with Spirobranchus. This new species is formally described based on morphologically distinct Japanese specimens with supporting DNA sequence data. The calcareous opercular endplate of Spirobranchusakitsushima sp. nov. lacks a distinct talon, but some specimens have a slight rounded swelling on the endplate underside, while in other species of the S.kraussii complex a talon is present, usually extended, and with bulges. We examined sub-fossil tube aggregations of the new species and suggest that such aggregation stranded ashore is a good indicator of vertical land movements (uplift and subsidence) resulting from past events, such as earthquakes, in Honshu, Japan.

Keywords: Cosmopolitan species; paleo-aggregation; sea level indicator.

Eijiroh Nishi, Hirokazu Abe, Katsuhiko Tanaka, Naoto Jimi, Elena K. Kupriyanova.