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Polychaeta source details
Putignano, Matteo; Toso, Andrea; Fumarola, Lara Marastella; Dimichele, Desirèe; Bariche, Michel; Giangrande, Adriana; Musco, Luigi; Piraino, Stefano; Langeneck, Joachim. (2026). To be or not to be alien, that is the question: the case of five new polychaete species from the Levantine Sea. Mediterranean Marine Science. 27(2): 330-356.
563273
10.12681/mms.42046 [view]
Putignano, Matteo; Toso, Andrea; Fumarola, Lara Marastella; Dimichele, Desirèe; Bariche, Michel; Giangrande, Adriana; Musco, Luigi; Piraino, Stefano; Langeneck, Joachim
2026
To be or not to be alien, that is the question: the case of five new polychaete species from the Levantine Sea
Mediterranean Marine Science
27(2): 330-356
Publication
Annelidabase. Zoobank registrations exist, but are not yet public (27/05/2026), likewise the DOI is not active
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A series of sampling activities in the Tyre Coast Nature Reserve, on the Southern coast of Lebanon, in the context of the project Blue Tyre - Local Partnership for Sustainable Marine and Coastal Development, allowed for the collection of material to study the polychaete fauna of the area, with particular focus on Non-Indigenous Species (NIS). The detection of several taxonomical novelties resulted in the description of five new species belonging to four families: Dorvilleidae, Eunicidae, Nereididae, and Sabellidae. Based on clear differences compared to the historical polychaete fauna of the Mediterranean Sea and on the presence of morphological similarities or genetic correspondence with Indo-Pacific taxa, we suggest that, despite having Mediterranean type locality, the newly described species should be considered NIS in the Mediterranean. Thus, the present data reaffirm the importance of the Levantine Sea and the Lebanese coast as an outpost for the early tracking of bioinvasions in the Mediterranean area. Specific epithets of Pseudobranchiomma Jones, 1962 species are amended to their correct Latin gender, following article 30.1.2 of the I.Z.C.N. Lastly, a review of the available literature on both the genera Nereis Linnaeus, 1758 and Lysidice Lamarck, 1818 reveals the necessity of corrections to the taxonomic status of some species within these genera.
Mediterranean Sea in general
Molecular systematics, Molecular biology
Systematics, Taxonomy Date action by
Dorvillea phoenicia Putignano, Langeneck & Toso in Putignano et al. 2026 (original description)
Lysidice Lamarck, 1818 (taxonomy source) Lysidice advena Putignano, Langeneck & Toso in Putignano et al. 2026 (original description) Lysidice communis Delle Chiaje, 1841 (status source) Nereis acustris Linnaeus, 1767 (status source) Nereis maroccensis [auct. misspelling] accepted as Nereis moroccensis Amoureux, 1976 accepted as Nereis funchalensis (Langerhans, 1880) (additional source) Nereis villalobosi Putignano, Langeneck & Toso in Putignano et al. 2026 (original description) Pseudobranchiomma grande (Baird, 1865) (basis of record) Pseudobranchiomma longum (Kinberg, 1866) (basis of record) Pseudobranchiomma minimum Nogueira & Knight-Jones, 2002 (basis of record) Pseudobranchiomma orientale (McIntosh, 1885) (basis of record) Pseudobranchiomma pallidum Capa & Murray, 2016 (basis of record) Pseudobranchiomma pictum (McIntosh, 1885) (basis of record) Pseudobranchiomma punctatum (Treadwell, 1906) (basis of record) Pseudobranchiomma schizogenicum [auct. misspelling] accepted as Pseudobranchiomma schizogenica Tovar-Hernández & Dean, 2014 (basis of record) Pseudobranchiomma serratibranche (Grube, 1878) (basis of record) Pseudobranchiomma tilici Putignano, Langeneck, Toso & Giangrande in Putignano et al., 2026 (original description) Pseudobranchiomma zebuense (McIntosh, 1885) (basis of record) Sabellomma marcoi Putignano, Langeneck, Toso & Giangrande in Putignano et al., 2026 (original description)
Holotype MHN-BPO 66/0, Museu de Historia Natural, Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, geounit Brazilian Exclusive Economic Zone, identified as Pseudobranchiomma minima Nogueira & Knight-Jones, 2002
Holotype SMF 33452, geounit Levantine Sea, identified as Pseudobranchiomma tilici Putignano, Langeneck, Toso & Giangrande in Putignano et al., 2026 Holotype SMF 33453, geounit Levantine Sea, identified as Sabellomma marcoi Putignano, Langeneck, Toso & Giangrande in Putignano et al., 2026 Holotype SMF 33454, geounit Levantine Sea, identified as Dorvillea phoenicia Putignano, Langeneck & Toso in Putignano et al. 2026 Holotype SMF 33455, geounit Levantine Sea, identified as Lysidice advena Putignano, Langeneck & Toso in Putignano et al. 2026 Holotype SMF 33456, geounit Levantine Sea, identified as Nereis villalobosi Putignano, Langeneck & Toso in Putignano et al. 2026 Holotype USNM 5223, geounit Oahu Island, identified as Laonome punctata Treadwell, 1906 Distribution Putignano et al. (2026) suggest the hypothesis of a Lessepsian origin of Pseudobranchiomma tilici in the ... [details] Etymology Not stated. Pictus -a -um is a dictionary adjective meaning painted. Possibly Dasychone 'picta' was chosen by ... [details] Etymology Dorvillea phoenicia is "named after the ancient Phoenician people, who inhabited Lebanon." Not stated but assumed ... [details] Etymology Not stated. The adjective punctatus -a -um is commonly used to indicate an animal with spots, dots, or punctures ... [details] Etymology Lysidice advena is named from the Latin noun advena, meaning foreigner, stranger or alien. The authors state it is ... [details] Etymology Nereis villalobosi is named after Tulio F. Villalobos-Guerrero from Mexico, taxonomist of Nereididae. Masculine ... [details] Etymology "Named after the process of modification and separation of the posterior abdomen into new individuals" The word ... [details] Etymology Pseudobranchiomma tilici is named after Ekin Tilic, curator for the polychaete collection of the ... [details] Etymology Sabellomma marcoi is named after the late Marco Toso (1967-2001) [the 2nd author is Andrea Toso]. Masculine ... [details] Grammatical gender Putignano et al. (2026: 340) correctly point out that Pseudobranchiomma is neuter, and that some endings of ... [details] Identification Lysidice communis is generally thought to be a scale worm, so it is not strictly indeterminable as placed by ... [details] Identification Misidentification. The species has five prostomial appendages, while the genus Lysidice has only three. Fauvel ... [details] Spelling 'schizogenicum' for gender agreement was proposed as a new spelling by Putignano et al (2026), without further ... [details] Spelling 'schizogenicum' for gender agreement proposed as if the original 'schizogenica' was a feminine adjective. However, ... [details] Spelling Pseudobranchiomma is neuter. Putignano et al (2026) created the updated spelling 'serratibranche' which they ... [details] Status Possible nomina dubia. Thirteen Nereis names inadequately described with "barely enough to recognize them as ... [details] Type locality Holotype SMF 33454, Tyre, Levantine Sea, 33.3330 N, 35.1880 E, 35 m, hard coralligenous substrate [details] Type locality Holotype, SMF 33455, Tyre, Levantine Sea, 33.2837 N, 35.1955 E, 0-6 m depth, on hard substrate [details] Type locality Holotype SMF 33456, Tyre, Levantine Sea, 33.2754 N, 35.1955 E, 0-5 m, artificial wall with corallines and vermetids [details] Type locality Holotype SMF 33452, Tyre, Levantine Sea, 33.2754 N, 35.1955 E, 0-5 m depth, artificial wall with corallines and ... [details] Type locality Holotype SMF 33453, Tyre, Levantine Sea, 33.3330 N, 35.1880 E, 35 m depth, hard coralligenous substrate. [details] |