Skip to main content
eScholarship
Open Access Publications from the University of California

Scholarly Works (2 results)

  • Thesis
  • Peer Reviewed
UC San Diego Electronic Theses and Dissertations (2017)

There are currently four named species of Branchipolynoe, all found living symbiotically in mytilid mussels in the genus Bathymodiolus, which all occur at hydrothermal vents or methane seeps. Here, phylogenetic analyses using mitochondrial (CO1 and 16S) and nuclear (ITS) genes, as well as morphological analysis were conducted on a collection of Branchipolynoe from Pacific Costa Rican methane seeps. This revealed four new species of Branchipolynoe and these are formally described here. These newly discovered species live in three different species of Bathymodiolus mussels (also new) at depths ranging from 1000 m to 1800 m. Branchipolynoe kajsae sp. nov. and Branchipolynoe halliseyae sp. nov. are found in hosts Bathymodiolus billschneideri, B. earlougheri, and B. nancyschneiderae. Branchipolynoe meridae sp. nov. is found in hosts Bathymodiolus earlougheri and B. billschneideri. Branchipolynoe eliseae sp. nov. is found in hosts Bathymodiolus billschneideri and B. nancyschneiderae. The phylogenetic and biogeographical implications of this high sympatric diversity of Branchipolynoe are discussed.

    Cover page: Phylogeny, biogeography, and systematics of Branchipolynoe (Polynoidae, Annelida), with descriptions of four new species from Costa Rican methane seeps
    • Article
    • Peer Reviewed
    UC San Diego Previously Published Works (2019)
    The four named species of Branchipolynoe all live symbiotically in mytilid mussels (Bathymodiolus) that occur at hydrothermal vents or methane seeps. Analyses using mitochondrial (COI and 16S) and nuclear (ITS) genes, as well as morphology, were conducted on a collection of Branchipolynoe from Pacific Costa Rican methane seeps and West Pacific hydrothermal vents. This revealed five new species of Branchipolynoe, and these are formally described. The new species from Costa Rica live in three species of Bathymodiolus mussels (also new) at depths ranging from 1000 to 1800 m. Branchipolynoe kajsae n. sp. and Branchipolynoe halliseyae n. sp. were found in all three undescribed Bathymodiolus species, while Branchipolynoe eliseae n. sp. was found in Bathymodiolus spp. 1 and 2, and Branchipolynoe meridae n. sp. was found in Bathymodiolus spp. 1 and 3. Hence, Bathymodiolus sp. 1 hosted all four of the new species, while the other two Bathymodiolus hosted three each. Most mussels contained only one specimen of Branchipolynoe; where there was more than one, these were often a female and smaller male of the same species. The newly discovered species from the West Pacific, Branchipolynoe tjiasmantoi n. sp., lives in unidentified Bathymodiolus at depths ranging from 674 to 2657 m from hydrothermal vents in the North Fiji (Fiji) and Lau Basins (Tonga) and also from New Zealand, Vanuatu, and the Manus Basin (Papua New Guinea). The phylogenetic and biogeographical implications of this diversity of Branchipolynoe are discussed.
      Top