Rhynchospio glutaea ( Ehlers, 1897 )

Delgado-Blas, Victor Hugo & Salazar-Silva, Patricia, 2011, Taxonomic catalogue of the Spionidae (Annelida: Polychaeta) of the Grand Caribbean, Zootaxa 2782, pp. 39-66 : 55

Rhynchospio glutaea ( Ehlers, 1897)

Scolecolepis glutaea Ehlers, 1897: 83 – 85, plate 5, figs 129–132, plate 6, figs 133–135. Malacoceros (Rhynchospio) glutaeus .— Foster, 1971a: 53 –58, figs 100–111.

Rhynchospio glutaea ( Ehlers, 1897) .— Blake & Kudenov, 1978: 199.

Type locality. Straits of Magallan, Punta Arenas, Chile.

Type material. Not found.

Records. USA: Florida ( Foster 1971a).

Remarks. Rhynchospio arenincola Hartman, 1936 , R. glutaea Hartman, 1953 , and R. arenicola asiatica Chlebovitsch, 1959 , were synonymized with M. glutaeus ( Ehlers, 1897) by Foster (1971). She mentions that the species of Malacoceros (Rhynchospio) have previously been separated primarily on the basis of anal cirri; and in specimens from Florida seem to indicate that this is not reliable since anal cirri exhibit considerable variation in the kinds and arrangements of anal cirri present. On that basis, Foster synonymized several of the above species. Other morphological characters are now recognised as important in species discrimination. The record of this species for the Grand Caribbean is questionable. We believe that the specimens recorded from the Grand Caribbean as R. glutaea ( Ehlers, 1897) probably represent an undescribed species.