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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Mar. Sci.
Sec. Marine Evolutionary Biology, Biogeography and Species Diversity
Volume 11 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fmars.2024.1421514

Unexpected diversity and novel lineages in the cosmopolitan genus Nanomia (Cnidaria: Siphonophorae: Physonectae)

Provisionally accepted
Aino Hosia Aino Hosia 1*Luis Martell Luis Martell 1Maciej Mańko Maciej Mańko 2Steven H. Haddock Steven H. Haddock 3Damien Haberlin Damien Haberlin 4Gillian Mapstone Gillian Mapstone 5
  • 1 University Museum of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
  • 2 University of Gdansk, Gdansk, Pomeranian Voivodeship, Poland
  • 3 Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI), Moss Landing, California, United States
  • 4 University College Cork, Cork, Ireland
  • 5 Natural History Museum (United Kingdom), London, Westminster, United Kingdom

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Integrated use of molecular and morphological methods reveals unexpected diversity in the cosmopolitan siphonophore genus Nanomia. Species delimitation analyses based on COI and 16S sequences suggest up to three distinct lineages in addition to the previously accepted Nanomia bijuga (Delle Chiaje, 1844) and N. cara A. Agassiz, 1865. Here, we describe the North Pacific Nanomia septata sp. n., previously confused with both N. cara and N. bijuga, and provide improved morphological characters for the identification of these three Nanomia species. Phylogenetic analyses suggest two additional, hitherto undescribed clades from Japanese and Chinese waters, respectively, but the lack of morphological material prevents describing these putative species. The geographic distribution of molecularly and/or morphologically verified observations confirm a warm circumglobal distribution for N. bijuga and a boreal North Atlantic distribution for N. cara. Interestingly, four distinct lineages occur in the North Pacific, sometimes in close proximity. These contrasting patterns of distribution raise questions about pelagic speciation processes.

    Keywords: Siphonophores, speciation, Holoplankton, DNA barcoding, COI, 16S

    Received: 22 Apr 2024; Accepted: 02 Sep 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Hosia, Martell, Mańko, Haddock, Haberlin and Mapstone. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Aino Hosia, University Museum of Bergen, Bergen, Norway

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