The phylogeny of Branchiobdellida (Annelida, Clitellata) assessed by sperm characters

Data on the spermatozoa of Branchiobdellida were taken from the published literature: sperm models of 25 species belonging to 13 different branchiobdellidan genera have been compared with the aim of supplying further evidences for a phylogenetic analysis of the group. The species considered were representative of all traditional branchiobdellidan families, excluding the monotypic Caridinophilidae. Branchiobdellidan spermatozoa are complex cells, thus it was possible to analyse the variation of 20 characters within the group. A parsimony analysis has yielded nine minimal trees, eight of which are very similar to one another. The main conclusions of the phylogenetic analysis are: (a) the monophyly of the taxon Branchiobdellida is confirmed; (b) the most speciose branchiobdellidan genus, Cambarincola is polyphyletic; (c) none of the traditional ‘families’ are supported; (d) the genus Branchiobdella is monophyletic, but the position of one species, B. kobayashi, albeit basal to the whole genus, is not resolved; (e) the other two genera analysed for which more than one species was available, Pterodrilus and Xironogiton, are monophyletic; (f) there seems to be a ‘trend’ in the whole group towards an increase of acrosome length. Our results partly parallel those obtained by Gelder and Siddall (2000) with a combined analysis of molecular and somatic characters, and point to the need for a comprehensive revision of the Branchiobdellida based on a combination of molecular, somatic and spermatological data sets.