Caulleriella Chamberlin, 1919

Blake, James A. & Dean, Harlan K., 2019, New Species of Cirratulidae (Annelida, Polychaeta) from the Caribbean Sea, Zootaxa 4671 (3), pp. 301-338 : 306

Genus Caulleriella Chamberlin, 1919

Type Species Cirratulus viridis Langerhans, 1881 , original designation by Chamberlin (1919).

Diagnosis. Prostomium elongate to short, apex rounded to pointed; peristomium elongate to short, dorsal tentacles beginning anterior to setiger 1 or more posteriorly on posterior extension of peristomium. Middle body segments not beaded; parapodia with noto- and neuropodia widely separated from one another. Modified setae including bidentate, crotchet-like hooks not arranged into modified cinctures.

Remarks. Blake (2018) partially revised the genus Caulleriella by removing several previously described species to other genera, redescribed or commented on previously known species, and described six new species, bringing the total number of known species to 38. Of the known species of Caulleriella , only C. petersenae Díaz- Díaz, Cardenas-Oliva & Linero-Arana, 2014 from the Caribbean Sea off Venezuela is endemic to the region. Other species reported from the Caribbean Sea include taxa originally reported from northern Europe or the eastern Pacific ( Dean 2012) and these are considered questionable by Díaz-Díaz & Salazar-Vallejo (2009). In the present study, six new species were discovered among the Carib 1 collections and are here described. A key to all endemic Caulleriella species from the Caribbean Sea is presented. With these six new species, the total number of known species of Caulleriella is increased to 44.