Skip to main content Skip to main navigation menu Skip to site footer
Type: Articles
Published: 2009-07-22
Page range: 16–38
Abstract views: 31
PDF downloaded: 17

Grania (Annelida: Clitellata: Enchytraeidae) of the Great Barrier Reef, Australia, including four new species and a re-description of Grania trichaeta Jamieson, 1977

Department of Zoology, University of Gothenburg, Box 463, SE-405 30 Göteborg, Sweden
Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Siena, Via T. Pendola 62, IT-53100 Siena, Italy
Department of Zoology, University of Gothenburg, Box 463, SE-405 30 Göteborg, Sweden
Annelida Grania taxonomy Great Barrier Reef Australia Oligochaeta Clitellata Enchytraeidae meiofauna interstitial fauna biogeography

Abstract

This study describes the fauna of the marine enchytraeid genus Grania at two locations on the Australian Great Barrier Reef: Lizard and Heron Islands. Collections were made from 1979 to 2006, yielding four new species: Grania breviductus sp. n., Grania regina sp. n., Grania homochaeta sp. n. and Grania colorata sp. n.. A re-description of Grania trichaeta Jamieson, 1977 based on new material is also included, along with notes and amendments on G. hyperoadenia Coates, 1990 and G. integra Coates & Stacey, 1997, the two latter being recorded for the first time from eastern Australia. COI barcode sequences were obtained from G. trichaeta and G. colorata and deposited with information on voucher specimens in the Barcode of Life database and GenBank; the mean intraspecific variation is 1.66 % in both species, while the mean interspecific divergence is 25.54 %. There seem to be two phylogeographic elements represented in the Great Barrier Grania fauna; one tropical with phylogenetic affinities to species found in New Caledonia and Hong Kong, and one southern (manifested at the more southerly located Heron Island) with affinities to species found in Southern Australia, Tasmania and Antarctica.

References

  1. Blaxter, M.L. (2004) The promise of a DNA taxonomy. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B Biological Sciences, 359, 669–679.

    Coates, K.A. (1984) Specific Criteria in Grania (Oligochaeta, Enchytraeidae). Hydrobiologia, 115, 45–50.

    Coates, K.A. (1990) Marine Enchytraeidae (Oligochaeta, Annelida) of the Albany area, Western Australia. Pages 13–41 in F. Wells, D. Walker, H. Kirkman, and R. Lethbridge, eds. Proceedings of the Third International Marine Biological Workshop: The Marine Flora and Fauna of Albany, Western Australia. Western Australian Museum, Perth.

    Coates, K.A. & Erséus, C. (1980) Two species of Grania (Oligochaeta, Enchytraeidae) from the Pacific Coast of North America. Canadian Journal of Zoology, 58, 1037–1041.

    Coates, K.A. & Erséus, C. (1985) Marine Enchytraeids (Oligochaeta) of the Coastal Northwest Atlantic (Northern and Mid U.S.A.). Zoologica Scripta, 14, 103–116.

    Coates, K.A. & Stacey, D. (1993) The Marine Enchytraeidae (Oligochaeta, Annelida) of Rottnest Island, Western Australia. Pages 391–414 in F. Wells, D. Walker, H. Kirkman, and R. Lethbridge, eds. Proceedings of the Fifth International Marine Biological Workshop: The Marine Flora and Fauna of Rottnest Island, Western Australia. Western Australian Museum, Perth.

    Coates, K.A. & Stacey, D. (1997) Enchytraeids (Oligochaeta: Annelida) of the Lower Shore and Shallow Subtidal of Darwin Harbour, Northern Territory, Australia. Pages 67–79 in J. Hanley, G. Caswell, D. Megirian, and H. Larson, eds. Proceedings of the Sixth International Marine Biological Workshop: The Marine Flora and Fauna of Darwin Harbour, Northern Territory, Australia. Museums and Art Galleries of the Northern Territory and the Australian Marine Sciences Association: Darwin, Australia.

    De Wit, P. & Erséus, C. (2007) Seven new species of Grania (Annelida: Clitellata: Enchytraeidae) from New Caledonia, South Pacific Ocean. Zootaxa, 1426, 27–50.

    Erséus, C. (1974) Grania pusilla sp.n. (Oligochaeta, Enchytraeidae) from the west coasts of Norway and Sweden with some taxonomic notes on the genus Grania. Sarsia, 56, 87–94.

    Erséus, C. (1977) Marine Oligochaeta from the Koster Area, West Coast of Sweden, with Descriptions of Two New Enchytraeid Species. Zoologica Scripta, 6, 293–298.

    Erséus, C. (1990) Marine Oligochaeta of Hong Kong. Pages 259–335 in B. Morton, ed. Proceedings of the Second International Marine Biological Workshop: The Marine Flora and Fauna of Hong Kong and Southern China. Hong Kong University Press, Hong Kong.

    Erséus, C. (1993) Class Oligochaeta. Pages 93–94 in P. Mather and I. Bennett, eds. A coral reef handbook. Surrey Beatty & Sons Pty Limited, Chipping Norton, N.S.W.

    Erséus, C. & Kvist, S. (2007) COI variation in Scandinavian marine species of Tubificoides (Annelida: Clitellata: Tubificidae). Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the U.K., 87, 1121–1126.

    Erséus, C. & Lasserre, P. (1976) Taxonomic status and geographic variation of the marine enchytraeid genus Grania Southern (Oligochaeta). Zoologica Scripta, 5, 121–132.

    Erséus, C. & Lasserre, P. (1977) Redescription of Grania monochaeta (Michaelsen), a Marine Enchytraeid (Oligochaeta) from South Georgia (SW Atlantic). Zoologica Scripta, 6, 299–300.

    Erséus, C., Wetzel, M.J. & Gustavsson, L.M. (2008) ICZN rules – a farewell to Tubificidae (Annelida, Clitellata). Zootaxa, 1744, 66–68.

    Folmer, O., Black, M., Hoen, W., Lutz, R. & Vrijenhoek, R. (1994) DNA primers for amplification of mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I from diverse metazoan invertebrates. Molecular Marine Biology and Biotechnology, 3, 294–299.

    Hebert, P.D.N., Cywinska, A., Ball, S.L. & DeWaard, J.R. (2003) Biological identifications through DNA barcodes. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B Biological Sciences, 270, 313–321.

    Hebert, P.D.N. & Gregory, T.R. (2005) The promise of DNA barcoding for taxonomy. Systematic Biology, 54, 852–859.

    Huang, J., Xu, Q., Jun Sun, Z., Lan Tang, G. & You Su, Z. (2007) Identifying earthworms through DNA barcodes. Pedobiologia, 51, 301–309.

    Jamieson, B.G.M. (1977) Marine meiobenthic Oligochaeta from Heron and Wistari Reefs (Great Barrier Reef) of the genera Clitellio, Limnodriloides and Phallodrilus (Tubificidae) and Grania (Enchytraeidae). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 61, 329–349.

    Kennedy, C. (1966) A taxonomic revision of the genus Grania (Oligochaeta: Enchytraeidae). Journal of Zoology, 148, 399–407.

    Kimura, M. (1980) A simple method for estimating evolutionary rates of base substitutions through comparative studies of nucleotide sequences. Journal of Molecular Evolution, 16, 111–120.

    King, R.A., Tibble, A.L. & Symondson, W.O.C. (2008) Opening a can of worms: unprecedented sympatric cryptic diversity within British lumbricid earthworms. Molecular Ecology, 17, 4684–4698.

    Knöllner, F.H. (1935) Ökologische und systematische Untersuchungen über litorale und marine Oligochäten der Kieler Bucht. Zoologische Jahrbücher (Systematik), 66, 425–512.

    Larkin, M.A., Blackshields, G., Brown, N.P., Chenna, R., McGettigan, P.A., McWilliam, H., Valentin, F., Wallace, I.M., Wilm, A., Lopez, R., Thompson, J.D., Gibson, T.J. & Higgins, D.G. (2007) Clustal W and Clustal X version 2.0. Bioinformatics, 23, 2947–2948.

    Lasserre, P. (1966) Oligochétes marins des côtes de France. I. Bassin d'Arcachon: Systématique. Cahiers de Biologie Marine, 7, 295–317.

    Lasserre, P. (1967) Oligochétes marins des côtes de France. II. Roscoff, Penpoull, Étangs saumâtres de Concarneau: Systématique, Écologie. Cahiers de Biologie Marine, 8, 273–293.

    Locke, J.M. & Coates, K.A. (1998) A new species of Grania (Enchytraeidae, Clitellata, Annelida) and redescription of Grania pusilla from a rocky shore in SE Ireland. Journal of Natural History, 32, 1101–1114.

    Pérez-Losada, M., Eiroa, J., Mato, S. & Dominguez, J. (2005) Phylogenetic species delimitation of the earthworms Eisenia fetida (Savigny, 1826) and Eisenia andrei Boché, 1972 (Oligochaeta, Lumbricidae) based on mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequences. Pedobiologia, 49, 317–324.

    Pierantoni, U. (1901) Studii Anatomici su Michaelsena macrochaeta Pierant. Mitteilungen aus dem Zoologischen Station zu Neapel, 16, 409–444.

    Pleijel, F., Jondelius, U., Norlinder, E., Nygren, A., Oxelman, B., Schander, C., Sundberg, P. & Thollesson, M. (2008) Phylogenies without roots? A plea for the use of vouchers in molecular phylogenetic studies. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 48, 369–371.

    Rota, E. & Erséus, C. (1996) Six new species of Grania (Oligochaeta, Enchytraeidae) from the Ross Sea, Antarctica. Antarctic Science, 2, 169–183.

    Rota, E. & Erséus, C. (1997) A re-examination of Grania monochaeta (Michaelsen) (Oligochaeta: Enchytraeidae), with descriptions of two new species from Subantarctic South Georgia. Journal of Natural History, 31, 27–42.

    Rota, E. & Erséus, C. (2000) Two new and peculiar species of Grania (Annelida: Clitellata: Enchytraeidae) inhabiting Tasmanian estuaries. New Zealand Journal of Zoology, 27, 245–254.

    Rota, E. & Erséus, C. (2003) New records of Grania (Clitellata, Enchytraeidae) in the Northeast Atlantic (from Tromso to the Canary Islands), with descriptions of seven new species. Sarsia, 88, 210–243.

    Rota, E., Erséus, C. & Wang, H. (2003) Grania ocarina sp.n., G. darwinensis (Coates and Stacey) comb.n., and other marine Enchytraeidae (Oligochaeta) from the Dampier area, Western Australia. Pages 497–511 in D. Walker and D. Jones, eds. The Marine Flora and Fauna of Dampier, Western Australia. Western Australian Museum, Perth.

    Rota, E., Wang, H. & Erséus, C. (2007) The diverse Grania fauna (Clitellata: Enchytraeidae) of the Esperance area, Western Australia, with descriptions of two new species. Journal of Natural History, 41, 999–1023.

    Savolainen, V., Cowan, R.S., Vogler, A.P., Roderick, G.K. & Lane, R. (2005) Towards writing the encyclopaedia of life: an introduction to DNA barcoding. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B, 360, 1805–1811.

    Southern, R. (1913) Part 48: Oligochaeta. Pages 1–14. Clare Island Survey. Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy (B).

    Swofford, D.L. (2002) PAUP*: Phylogenetic Analysis Using Parsimony (*and other methods). Sinauer Associates, Sunderland, MA.

    Wilson, B.R. & Allen, G.R. (1987) 3. Major components and distribution of marine fauna. Fauna of Australia. Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra.