European Journal of Taxonomy 655: 1–53 ISSN 2118-9773 https://doi.org/10.5852/ejt.2020.655 www.europeanjournaloftaxonomy.eu 2020 · Bello G. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0). Monograph urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:0042EFAE-2E4F-444B-AFB9-E321D16116E8 Evolution of the hectocotylus in Sepiolinae (Cephalopoda: Sepiolidae) and description of four new genera Giambattista BELLO Arion, Via Colombo 34, 70042 Mola di Bari, Italy.
[email protected] urn:lsid:zoobank.org:author:31A50D6F-5126-48D1-B630-FBEDA63944D9 …it is impossible to doubt that the [hectocotylized] arm is thereby adapted to some particular purpose, […] because its transformation occurs in so great a number of species of the class, and bears its peculiar characters in each natural genus. Japetus Steenstrup (1857) Abstract. The subfamily Sepiolinae (Mollusca: Cephalopoda: Sepiolidae), currently containing the genera Sepiola Leach, 1817, Euprymna Steenstrup, 1887, Inioteuthis Verrill, 1881, Rondeletiola Naef, 1921 and Sepietta Naef, 1912, is characterized by the hectocotylization of the left dorsal arm, i.e., its transformation into a copulatory organ thanks to modifications of sucker/pedicel elements. The hectocotylus morphology varies to a great extent across genera and species. In particular, one to several pedicels in its proximal third lose their sucker and become highly and diversely modified in shape to constitute a copulatory apparatus. An evolutionary gradient was observed in the copulatory apparatus morphology, from the simple modification into a papilla of just one pedicel from the third element of the ventral sucker row (some nominal species of Euprymna) to a quite complex structure involving several variously modified pedicels from both the ventral and dorsal sucker rows (Inioteuthis).