Guess who? On the importance of using appropriate name: case study of Marphysa sanguinea (Montagu, 1803)

Abstract

The common bait worm Marphysa sanguinea (Montagu, 1813), originally described from the south coast of England, is the type species of the genus. This species has been widely reported from all around the world and has been considered as cosmopolitan until recently. This is partly because the original description was very brief and poorly illustrated, and also because all species superficially look similar. In order to clarify the situation, M. sanguinea was redescribed and a neotype was designated by Hutchings and Karageorgpoulos in 2003. Recently, specimens from Cornwall, close to the type locality, were sampled, examined morphologically, and used to obtain COI gene sequences for this species. Molecular results permitted us to confirm the identity and presence of M. sanguinea along the French coasts and to highlight the presence of inaccurate sequences of this species on GenBank. Use of this “false” cosmopolitan species at a worldwide scale by many biologists is also discussed in this paper.