Genetic similarity between two morphologically similar species of polychaetes

Glycera dibranchiata Ehlers and G. americana Leidy are two closely related and similar species of polychaetes. Electrophoretic studies of 11 enzyme systems encoded by 15 loci reveal that both species are polymorphic at about 50% of their enzyme loci, but that G. dibranchiata is the more variable as judged by heterozygosity per individual, genetic diversity, and effective number of alleles per locus. Both species show marked heterozygote deficiencies at nearly all polymorphic loci, possibly as the result of life-history features. Genetic similarity between the Glycera species suggests divergence at a level between species and sibling species compared to the Drosophila willistoni complex.