Minuspio cirrifera ( Wirèn, 1883 ), Wiren, 1883

Delgado-Blas, Victor Hugo & Salazar-Silva, Patricia, 2011, Taxonomic catalogue of the Spionidae (Annelida: Polychaeta) of the Grand Caribbean, Zootaxa 2782, pp. 39-66 : 48-49

Minuspio cirrifera ( Wirèn, 1883)

Prionospio cirrifera Wirèn, 1883: 409 .

Minuspio cirrifera .— Foster, 1971a: 108 –112.— Amoureux, 1985: 103.

Prionospio (Minuspio) cirrifera .— Maciolek, 1985: 352 –356, fig. 10.— Johnson, 1984: 6.54–6.55, figs. 6.43–6.44.—Granados- Barba & Solís-Weiss, 1998: 11 –115.— Bone & Viéitez, 2002: 71.— Long & Zottoli, 1997:90

Type locality. Kara Sea, Arctic Ocean, 3.5 m.

Type material. lost.

Records. USA: Grand Isle, Louisiana ( Foster 1971a); Texas, Alabama, Mississippi, Tampa, Louisiana, Florida 19–98 m, coarse to fine sand, silty fine sand, silty clayey sand, sandy silt, clayey sandy silt, silty clay ( Johnson 1984). Mexico: Coastal lagoons Tamiahua and Campeche, 17–125 m ( Granados-Barba & Solís-Weiss 1998). Puerto Rico: Mayaguez. Netherlands Antilles: Curaçao, Guadaloupe ( Amoureux 1985). Venezuela: Morrocoy ( Bone & Viéitez 2002). Bermudas: Gay Head-Bermuda (39º56.5´N, 70º39.9´W), 400 m. Bay of Biscay (43º43´N, 03º47.8´W), 641 m ( Maciolek 1985).

Remarks. This species has a confused history of description in the literature. In the last 25 years or so our understanding has improved a little, although the situation is still not fully resolved. Mackie (1984) gave a detailed description and drew attention to the downward-pointing neuropodial lamellae on chaetiger 2, among other things. This feature is present in the type material illustrated by Wirén, which has 6 pairs of branchiae. However, Mackie's figured specimens (not from the type locality) closely resemble Prionospio aluta Maciolek (1985) . Sigvaldadôttir (2002) discussed P. cirrifera and P. aluta and placed them in synonymy. We believe that these species are separate and belong to a more inclusive complex of similar species; all of which have ventrally-directed neuropodial lamellae on chaetiger 2, though some may have more or fewer than 6 pairs of branchiae, with or without interparapodial pouches.

Therefore, we can say that the description of P. cirrifera by Maciolek (1985) is incorrect. The figured specimens lack the distinctive neuropodial shape and have more than 6 pairs of branchiae. Examinations of the descriptions in Foster (1971) and Johnson (1984) show that these materials differs from P. cirrifera from the Kara Sea in having more branchiae, and their anterior prostomia are more rounded.