Abstract
Species of the genus Hofstenia are voracious predators and among the largest and most colorful of the Acoela. They are known from Japan, the Red Sea, the North Atlantic islands of Bermuda and the Bahamas, and the Caribbean and in a variety of habitats including the rocky intertidal, among Thalassia sea grass, on filamentous algae and decaying mangrove leaves. Certain color morphs associated with each of these habitats seem to have confused the taxonomy of the group. While brown-and-white banding and spotting patterns of Hofstenia miamia and Hofstenia giselae are distinctive for species associated with mangrove leaves and Thallasia sp. and are likely to be cryptic for these specific environments, we find some evidence to suggest that the coloration is mimicry of a nudibranch with aposematic coloration. The common plan in these patterns is one with three variously solid or spotted lighter cross bands on a dark background. Our examination of museum type material and live specimens of Hofstenia collected from Bahamas, Belize, Bermuda, and Panama revealed no internal morphological differences between the Hofstenia species occurring in the Caribbean. Similarly, our analyses of 18S and 28S molecular sequence data revealed no significant differences among specimens. Accordingly, we declare that Hofstenia giselae is a junior synonym of Hofstenia miamia, the three-banded panther worm.
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Acknowledgements
We are grateful to Klaus Rützler for the opportunity to work at Carrie Bow Cay and we thank Wolfgang Sterrer and Jörg Ott for their help in collecting specimens in Belize. We thank Rachel Collin of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) for inviting us to be a part of the taxonomic survey at Bocas del Toro, Panama and for providing financial assistance and logistical support. We also extend our gratitude to Wolfgang Sterrer of the Bermuda Natural History Museum for his invaluable help in the collection of specimens in Bermuda and to the highly altruistic staff of the Perry Institute for Marine Science in Lee Stocking Island, Bahamas. Type material was generously made available to us by the Swedish Museum of Natural History and the Naturhistorisches Museum Wien. This is contribution no. 797 of the Caribbean Coral Reef Ecosystems Program, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, and contribution no. 125 of the Bermuda Biodiversity Project (BBP), Bermuda Aquarium, Natural History Museum and Zoo. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under grant no. 0118804 (MH, ST) and the Swedish Research Council (UJ). Wallberg was kindly funded by Inez Johanssons stiftelse.
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Hooge, M., Wallberg, A., Todt, C. et al. A revision of the systematics of panther worms (Hofstenia spp., Acoela), with notes on color variation and genetic variation within the genus. Hydrobiologia 592, 439–454 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-007-0789-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-007-0789-0