Systematic revision and phylogeny of the Polygordiidae Czerniavsky, 1881 (Annelida: Polychaeta) based on morphological and molecular methods

本研究的目的是对多毛纲（polygodiidae）这一生态学和进化上重要的多毛纲类群的系统发育进行系统的修正和分析。Polygordius是粗砂生境中最丰富的大型动物群落之一，由于它们占据砂质沉积物的间隙并且具有高度的流动性，可能对沉积物化学产生重大影响。尽管如此，一些观察表明，一些物种可能特别容易受到短期和长期环境变化的影响，但由于缺乏可用的识别关键和定义多毛类特征，这些物种在环境调查中经常被遗漏或未被识别。由于形态学特征对Polygordius物种之间的区分诊断价值有限，一些所谓的世界性物种实际上可能由几个隐种组成，初步研究表明该类群的物种多样性在很大程度上被低估了。在该项目中，将对该分类单元中所有已知物种的现状进行澄清，并对科学上的新物种进行描述，从而重新定义该分类单元自1881年建立以来的多样性。为了更好地区分物种，了解类群的系统发育、进化和生物地理学，我们提出了一种分子和形态学方法的综合方法，即dna测序和LM、SEM、TEM和cLSM。我们的研究结果将适用于未来的研究，包括进一步的系统发育和分支分析，以及环境影响调查中收集的物种鉴定。将为所调查的物种制作最新的多蛾科鉴定密钥和条形码。除了出版物和报告之外，这项研究产生的数据将提交给与生物多样性和生物地理学主要信息系统相联系的各种基于网络的数据库。参考dna样本将保存在合适的收藏中，以便长期保存和使用。对拟议的研究结果的回顾将贡献给新版的“动物学手册”。

The proposed research aims at a systematic revision and an analysis of the phylogeny of the Polygordiidae, an ecologically and evolutionarily important polychaete group. Species of Polygordius are among the most abundant members of macrofaunal communities in coarse sand habitats and likely have a major impact on sediment chemistry as they occupy the interstices of sandy sediments and are highly motile. Despite this and several observations suggesting that some species may be particularly susceptible to short and long-term environmental changes this group is often missed or left unidentified in environmental surveys due to lack of available identification keys and defining polychaete characters. As morphological characters examined to date have been of limited diagnostic value for the distinction among Polygordius species some of the so-called cosmopolitan species may actually be comprised of several cryptic species and preliminary research suggests that species diversity within this group is largely underestimated. In the proposed project the status of all species currently known in this taxon will be clarified and species new to science will be described thus redefining the diversity of the taxon for the first time since its erection in 1881. For better distinction among species and understanding of the phylogeny, evolution and biogeography of the group we propose an integrative approach using molecular and morphological methods, i.e. DNA-sequencing and LM, SEM, TEM, and cLSM. Our results will be applicable to future research including further phylogenetic and cladistic analyses of polychaete systematics, and to the identification of species collected in environmental impact surveys. An up-to-date identification key to the Polygordiidae and a barcode for those species investigated will be produced. In addition to publications and presentations, data resulting from this research will be submitted to various web-based databases that are linked to major information systems for biodiversity and biogeography. Reference DNA-samples will be deposited in suitable collections for long-term storage and availability. A review of the results of the proposed research will be contributed to the new edition of the “Handbook of Zoology.