Abstract
The scale-worm family Iphionidae consists of four genera. Of these, Thermiphione has two accepted species, both native to hydrothermal vents in the Pacific Ocean; T.fijiensis Miura, 1994 (West Pacific) and T.tufari Hartmann-Schröder, 1992 (East Pacific Rise). Iphionella is also known from the Pacific, and has two recognized species; Iphionellarisensis Pettibone, 1986 (East Pacific Rise, hydrothermal vents) and I.philippinensis Pettibone, 1986 (West Pacific, deep sea). In this study, phylogenetic analyses of Iphionidae from various hydrothermal vent systems of the Pacific Ocean were conducted utilizing morphology and mitochondrial (COI and 16S rRNA) and nuclear (18S and 28S rRNA) genes. The results revealed a new iphionid species, described here as Thermiphionerapanuisp. n. The analyses also demonstrated the paraphyly of Thermiphione, requiring Iphionellarisensis to be referred to the genus, as Thermiphionerisensis (Pettibone, 1986).
Highlights
Annelid scale-worms (Aphroditiformia) are a common and diverse group at hydrothermal vents (Desbruyères et al 2006)
The Iphione terminals formed a sister clade to a well-supported clade comprised of all the iphionids from hydrothermal vents
The three East Pacific Rise taxa, I. risensis, T. tufari and T. rapanui sp. n. were recovered as the sister group to the western Pacific T. fijiensis
Summary
Annelid scale-worms (Aphroditiformia) are a common and diverse group at hydrothermal vents (Desbruyères et al 2006). Most of this diversity is within Polynoidae Kinberg, 1856, but there have been several records of another aphroditiform family, Iphionidae Kinberg, 1856, which currently includes four genera and 13 accepted species.
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