Genetic diversity of Timarete punctata (Annelida: Cirratulidae): Detection of pseudo-cryptic species and a potential biological invader Victor Corr ^ ea Seixas a, * , Joana Zanol a, b , Wagner F. Magalh ~ aes c , Paulo Cesar Paiva a a Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, CCS, Instituto de Biologia, Departamento de Zoologia, Av. Carlos Chagas Filho 373 e Sala A0-108 e Bloco A e Ilha do Fund~ ao, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, 21941-902, Brazil b Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Campus Xerem, Duque de Caxias, RJ, Brazil c Department of Biology & Water Resources Research Center, University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2538 McCarthy Mall, Honolulu, HI, 96822, USA article info Article history: Received 5 January 2017 Received in revised form 18 August 2017 Accepted 21 August 2017 Available online 26 August 2017 Keywords: Alien species Asexual reproduction Mitochondrial DNA Phylogeography abstract Among the processes that drive biological invasions, the presence of asexual reproduction, as observed in many polychaetes, is an important feature because it allows a rapid spread and colonization in the invaded site. Despite its ecological importance for benthic communities, studies on the biological invasive context are rare for this abundant taxon. Here, the phylogeographic pattern of a common asexual reproducer polychaete, Timarete punctata, was analyzed at five sites along the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans to investigate if its wide distribution is associated to human-mediated transport. Sequences of COI and 16S revealed the presence of two cryptic species. One of them exhibits a wide distribution range (~14,000 km), very low level of genetic diversity and a high frequency of shared haplotypes along sampled sites. The genetic pattern indicates that this species has probably been introduced in all sampled sites, and its wide distribution is associated to human-mediated transport. In addition, the great capa- bility of T. punctata to reproduce by fragmentation makes the colonization process easier. Thus, the number of alien polychaete species is probably underestimated and future studies are necessary to reach a more realistic perspective. © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction The occurrence of invasive alien species alters ecological in- teractions at different levels and negatively affects ecosystem ser- vices (Ruiz et al., 1997; Katsanevakis et al., 2014), decreasing natural biological resources and triggering a series of socio-economic problems (Vitousek et al., 1997). Given such negative conse- quences, it is important understand the dynamics of the intro- duction, the history of the invasion and detect potential invaders in order to efficiently manage alien species and to avoid new in- vasions. Non-native populations usually lose a significant amount of genetic diversity when compared to native ones (e.g. Patti and Gambi, 2001; Chandler et al., 2008; Dlugosch and Parker, 2008; P erez-Portela et al., 2012; Rius and Shenkar, 2012). Such a pattern of genetic diversity is informative in understanding biological in- vasions (Goldstien et al., 2011; Riquet et al., 2013), and may also reveal the history of biological invasions and aid in detecting po- tential invaders (Cristescu, 2015). Species invasion is a multifactor process that depends not only on human-mediated transport but also on the biological commu- nity structure of the invaded site, abiotic conditions and intrinsic features of the invader (Perkins et al., 2011). Among the abilities of a potential invader, asexual reproduction plays an important role (Gherardi et al., 2007). It allows for rapid colonization from a few individuals and avoids limitations expected by inbreeding depres- sion (Mergeay et al., 2006; Roman and Darling, 2007; Cosentino and Giacobbe, 2011). Asexual reproduction is commonly observed among poly- chaete worms due to the great regeneration ability of the group (Zattara and Bely, 2016). One such process is the architomic fission, where the fragmentation and regeneration of anterior and/or posterior segments can give rise to new clonal individuals (Petersen, 1999; Weidhase et al., 2015). Architomic fission is present in six of the 10 known genera of the family Cirratulidae (Petersen, 1999) and in at least five species of the multi- tentaculate genus Timarete, T. caribous, T. ceciliae, T. filigera, T. hawaiensis and T. punctata (Petersen, 1999; Gherardi et al., 2007; Magalh~ aes and Bailey-Brock, 2010; Magalh~ aes et al., 2014; Weidhase et al., 2015). * Corresponding author. E-mail address: victorcseixas@gmail.com (V.C. Seixas). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ecss http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecss.2017.08.039 0272-7714/© 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 197 (2017) 214e220