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Grant support

The authors are grateful to Niels Van Steenkiste, the staff at Hakai institute and the Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre for their assistance during the sampling. Martin V. S & oslash;rensen is greatly acknowledged for his guidance and for granting access to the facilities at the Natural History Museum of Denmark. We also extend our thanks to Anna Phillips and the staff at Smithsonian Institution for their support during KG's fellowship at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. Hiroshi Yamasaki is acknowledged for facilitating the primer sequences for ITS. Sergio Alvarez Ortega is thanked for his help with the sequencing and use of light microscopy infrastructure at URJC. Maria Barrero is acknowledged for helping with the laboratory work. This work has been carried out with the support of the research grant MCIN/AEI/RYC2022/037128-I to MH, Fulbright Fellowship to KG PL/2019/43/SR, the Tula foundation and the National Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC 2014-05258) to BSL.

Analysis of institutional authors

Herranz M.AuthorHerranz, MariaCorresponding Author

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November 12, 2024
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First evidence of cryptic diversity in mud dragons (kinorhyncha) and description of Echinoderes quasae sp. nov. from the northeastern pacific coast

Publicated to:Zoologischer Anzeiger. 313 241-254 - 2024-11-01 313(), DOI: 10.1016/j.jcz.2024.10.010

Authors: Herranz, Maria; Leander, Brian S; Grzelak, Katarzyna

Affiliations

Polish Acad Sci, Inst Oceanol, Sopot, Poland - Author
Rey Juan Carlos Univ URJC, Dept Biol & Geol Phys & Inorgan Chem, Mostoles 28933, Spain - Author
Univ British Columbia, Dept Bot, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada - Author
Univ British Columbia, Dept Zool, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada - Author
URJC, Global Change Res Inst IICG, Mostoles 28933, Spain - Author
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Abstract

The genus Echinoderes, currently consisting of over 150 known species, has seen a surge in new descriptions since 2015. Species identification traditionally relies on morphological traits and morphometrics, but distinguishing closely related species is more and more challenging due to overlapping features and character variability. Cryptic diversity, where species are genetically distinct but morphologically identical, is common in meiofauna and suspected in kinorhynchs, though not previously confirmed. This study examines the northeastern Pacific Echinoderes fauna, using newly collected material and historical collections of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. We describe a new species, Echinoderes quasae sp. nov., using a molecular and morphological approach and provide the first evidence of cryptic diversity in kinorhynchs, revealing at least two new species within a previously unrecognized cryptic complex.

Keywords

(its)Atlantic-oceanCyclorhagidaCytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (coiCytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (coi)Deep-sea floorEchinoderidaeKinorhynchsMeiofaunaNuclear ribosomal internal transcriber spacerNuclear ribosomal internal transcriber spacer (its)RedescriptionSeamount

Quality index

Bibliometric impact. Analysis of the contribution and dissemination channel

The work has been published in the journal Zoologischer Anzeiger due to its progression and the good impact it has achieved in recent years, according to the agency Scopus (SJR), it has become a reference in its field. In the year of publication of the work, 2024 there are still no calculated indicators, but in 2023, it was in position , thus managing to position itself as a Q1 (Primer Cuartil), in the category Animal Science and Zoology.

Impact and social visibility

From the perspective of influence or social adoption, and based on metrics associated with mentions and interactions provided by agencies specializing in calculating the so-called "Alternative or Social Metrics," we can highlight as of 2025-07-04:

  • The use, from an academic perspective evidenced by the Altmetric agency indicator referring to aggregations made by the personal bibliographic manager Mendeley, gives us a total of: 7.
  • The use of this contribution in bookmarks, code forks, additions to favorite lists for recurrent reading, as well as general views, indicates that someone is using the publication as a basis for their current work. This may be a notable indicator of future more formal and academic citations. This claim is supported by the result of the "Capture" indicator, which yields a total of: 7 (PlumX).

With a more dissemination-oriented intent and targeting more general audiences, we can observe other more global scores such as:

  • The Total Score from Altmetric: 10.

Leadership analysis of institutional authors

This work has been carried out with international collaboration, specifically with researchers from: Canada; Poland.

There is a significant leadership presence as some of the institution’s authors appear as the first or last signer, detailed as follows: First Author (Herranz Matesanz, María) .

the author responsible for correspondence tasks has been Herranz Matesanz, María.