Publication details
Hrabeiella periglandulata (Annelida: "Polychaeta") - do apparent differences in chaetal ultrastructure indicate the existence of several species in Europe?
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2013 |
| Type | Article in Periodical |
| Magazine / Source | Acta Zoologica Academiae Scientarum Hungaricae |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Web | http://actazool.nhmus.hu/59/2/ac59_2.html |
| Field | Zoology |
| Keywords | Hrabeiella periglandulata; Polychaeta; structure of chaetae; SEM investigation |
| Description | Hrabeiella periglandulata (Annelida: “Polychaeta”), one of only two known exclusively terrestrial non-clitellate annelids (“polychaetes”), has been found at an increasing number of sites in Europe and has also recently been reported from Korea. Until recently it was known only from a zone from southern Sweden across central Europe to central Italy. Looking at SEM micrographs, the ultrastructure of the unique chaetae of Hrabeiella periglandulata appeared to differ rather markedly among different populations, which gave rise to the question of whether they all belonged to a single species. To resolve this question, specimens from a total of 17 sites were collected, ranging from Spain in the West to Romania in the East. Specimens from these populations were processed by two different methods and examined using SEM. The results obtained indicate that apparent differences, as published for some Italian and German populations, can be caused by even small differences in the fixation procedure preceding the SEM examination. Such causes might lead to false conclusions when judging morphological differences visible by SEM within taxonomical studies. We conclude that chaetal morphology and ultrastructure point at the existence of only one species of Hrabeiella that is widely distributed. We present 19 previously unpublished localities for the species (not fully overlapping with the 17 collection sites used in our SEM examination), including the first records for four countries: Spain, Denmark, Hungary, and Romania. |