Diversity of Osedax annelids (zombie worm) associated with mammalian bones from the deep Southwest Atlantic

• Grant number: 22/12683-4
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: January 23, 2023
• End date: May 22, 2023
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Zoology - Taxonomy of Recent Groups
• Principal Investigator: Paulo Yukio Gomes Sumida
• Grantee: Thammy Gularte Dias
• Supervisor: Gregory Rouse
• Host Institution: Instituto Oceanográfico (IO). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego), United States
• Associated to the scholarship: 22/04019-7 - Diversity of annelids from Osedax genus (zombie worm) associated with mammalian bones from deep southwest Atlantic, BP.IC

Abstract

The deep sea is one of the biggest biomes on Earth and is also the lesser known.Among the distinct and specialized ecosystems of the deep sea, whale falls are a habitat prone to specialization and for the evolution of new species. The discovery of bone-eating polychaetes from the genus Osedax represent one of the most important examples of evolutionary news in whale falls. Osedax shows a series of morphological and physiological adaptations that allows them to feed directly from whale and other marine vertebrate bones. Until the present moment, 28 species from the genus Osedax associated with mammalian bones have been described in almost all oceanic basins, occurring from 20m to 4200m depth. The only species formally described until the present moment in Brazil is Osedax braziliensis Fujiwara et al. (2019). It was found dwelling on a whale fall in 4204m deep on the São Paulo ridge. Moreover, four Osedax species were found by BioSuOr project in the southeastern Brazilian coast between 550m and 3300m depth, all of them possibly are new species, in addition to an already described species, O. frankpressi founded in 1500m depth. However, it is still necessary to describe these four new species and characterize their distribution in Brazil, which is the aim of this scientific project. This BEPE proposal will be an excellent opportunity to progress since Osedax is a difficult genus to study due to the lack of distinctive morphological features. Additionally, there are few scientists who have described Osedax species in the world. Prof. Greg Rouse from Scripps, who discovered and described 18 species from the genus, is the best option for a BEPE internship.This internship will be important to obtain knowledge about this difficult and little-known genus, which appears to be highly diverse in Brazilian waters. Moreover, this opportunity will increase the knowledge on the Brazilian deep sea fauna. (AU)