Summary
The different chaetal types of three eidonomically very similar, closely related polychaete species (Microphthalmus carolinensis, M. nahantensis and M. listensis) were ultrastructurally investigated and compared with one another. Characteristic substructures are regularly arranged channels, the course and number of which were analysed in cross-sections. The intraspecific variability of the number of these channels is low in the individual chaetal type. Between the species, however, distinct differences exist, facilitating separation and identification of the species at the level of ultrastructure in certain chaetae.
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Specht, A., Westheide, W. Intra- and interspecific ultrastructural character variation: The chaetation of the Microphthalmus listensis species group (Polychaeta, Hesionidae). Zoomorphology 107, 371–376 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00312220
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00312220