Parazoanthus axinellae: a species complex showing different ecological requierements
- Ocaña, O. 1
- L. Moro 2
- R. Herrera 2
- M.E. Çinar 3
- A. Brito 4
- J.S. Cuervo 5
- R. Herrero 6
- 1 Museo del Mar de Ceuta, Spain
- 2 Servicio de Biodiversidad, Viceconsejería de Medio Ambiente del Gobierno de Canarias
- 3 Faculty of Fisheries, Department of Hydrobiology, Ege University, lzmir, Turkey
- 4 Grupo de investigación BIOECOMAC, Unidad Departamental de Ciencias Marinas Universidad de La Laguna, Canary lsland, Spain
- 5 RedPROMAR, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain
- 6 AQUA WORK, S.L., Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain
ISSN: 1130-4723
Year of publication: 2019
Issue Title: Biología
Volume: 31
Issue: 1
Pages: 15-36
Type: Article
More publications in: Revista de la Academia Canaria de Ciencias: = Folia Canariensis Academiae Scientiarum
Abstract
For almost a century, Parazoanthus axinellae (Schmidt, 1862) has been studied in the Western Mediterranean basin and the Adriatic Sea. Although this is a very common species, one that has been widcly recorded in many papers focusing on benthic ccology, its taxonomy has never been properly resolved. From our point ofview, several taxa have been erroneously merged into the P. axinellae species complex. Differing morphological characteristics and diverse ecological requirements support our hypothesis. A forthcoming article will attend to the taxonomy of this species complex, including the description of a new genus and species; the prescet article demonstrates the wide distribution range, the main ecologícal clusters oft his species complex, and the strikingly different externa! features found in the populations studied, in both Mediterranean and Macaronesian regions.