The elusive Arbaciella elegans is but the juvenile of the abundant echinoid Arbacia lixula

Abstract

Event Abstract Back to Event The elusive Arbaciella elegans is but the juvenile of the abundant echinoid Arbacia lixula Maria Casso1*, Owen S. Wangensteen2, Cataixa Lopez3 and Creu Palacin4 1 Spanish National Research Council, Center for Advanced Studies of Blanes, Spain 2 University of Salford, School of Environment and Life Sciences, United Kingdom 3 Universidad de La Laguna, Facultad de Biología, Spain 4 Universitat de Barcelona, Facultat de Biologia, Spain Arbaciella elegans Mortensen, 1910 is a rarely reported and poorly known echinoid species, closely related to Arbacia lixula (Linnaeus, 1758). Some similarities between both species and the lack of a complete description for A. lixula juveniles have led to reasonable doubts regarding the validity of A. elegans. We used 70 individuals from most of the distribution area of A. elegans (which closely matches that of A. lixula) for morphological analyses and phylogenetic barcoding using the mitochondrial marker COI. Our morphological results indicate that the diagnostic characters for A. elegans are not strong enough to distinguish it from A. lixula, as the shape, colour and distribution of spines are highly variable, and the presence of gonopores is not an indicative of maturity. Moreover, the COI barcoding analysis proved that all the samples morphologically compatible as A. elegans clearly lie within the range of genetic variability of A. lixula, including many shared haplotypes. Finally, we obtained A. lixula larvae from in vitro fertilization of gametes and reared them to complete development in aquaria, proving that the morphology of recently settled juveniles of A. lixula closely matches the description of A. elegans. Therefore, we conclude that A. elegans is actually the juvenile form of A. lixula and that the genus Arbaciella must be regarded as invalid. Keywords: Arbaciella elegans, Arbacia lixula, Taxonomy, synonym, juvenile Conference: XIX Iberian Symposium on Marine Biology Studies, Porto, Portugal, 5 Sep - 9 Sep, 2016. Presentation Type: Oral Presentation Topic: 1. ECOLOGY, BIODIVERSITY AND VULNERABLE ECOSYSTEMS Citation: Casso M, Wangensteen OS, Lopez C and Palacin C (2016). The elusive Arbaciella elegans is but the juvenile of the abundant echinoid Arbacia lixula. Front. Mar. Sci. Conference Abstract: XIX Iberian Symposium on Marine Biology Studies. doi: 10.3389/conf.FMARS.2016.05.00013 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 15 Apr 2016; Published Online: 02 Sep 2016. * Correspondence: Ms. Maria Casso, Spanish National Research Council, Center for Advanced Studies of Blanes, Blanes, Spain, mariacasso85@gmail.com Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Maria Casso Owen S Wangensteen Cataixa Lopez Creu Palacin Google Maria Casso Owen S Wangensteen Cataixa Lopez Creu Palacin Google Scholar Maria Casso Owen S Wangensteen Cataixa Lopez Creu Palacin PubMed Maria Casso Owen S Wangensteen Cataixa Lopez Creu Palacin Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.