Phylogenetic relationship of LumbricalusFrame, 1992 (Polychaeta: Lumbrineridae), with ecological and distribution data

Abstract This study is the first phylogenetic reconstruction of the eight Lumbricalus species, using parsimony analysis of 11 morphological characters. Following previous higher‐level phylogenetic analysis, Kuwaita magna Mohammad, 1973 was selected as outgroup. The analysis yielded one most parsimonious tree of 18 steps, consistency index of 0.7222, homoplasy index of 0.2778, and retention index of 0.6875. The topology of this tree revealed the separation of the genus in four groups, (i) L. foresti, L. adriatica, L. harrisae and L. aotearoae; (ii) L. composita and L. vossae; (iii) L. januarii; and (iv) L. vivianneae. Furthermore, ecological and distribution data on the genus are provided, and a possible explanation of the discontinuous distribution of L. januarii is provided.