Nauphanta mossambica Fauchald, 1987: 376−378

Idris, Izwandy, Hutchings, Pat & Arshad, Aziz, 2014, Description of a new species of Marphysa Quatrefages, 1865 (Polychaeta: Eunicidae) from the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia and comparisons with species from Marphysa Group A from the Indo-West Pacific and Indian Ocean, Memoirs of Museum Victoria 71, pp. 109-121 : 119

Nauphanta mossambica Fauchald, 1987: 376−378 , fig. 1.

Figure 6 .

Material examined. Lectotype. ZMB 4005 – complete, female . Paralectotypes. (6): ZMB 47 and ZMB F2046 , all specimens were collected at Moçambique, coll. Peters 1854 .

Remarks. We re-examined the lectotype (ZMB 4005) and the associated SEM stubs used in Zanol et al. (2014). The anterior section was photographed while the following parapodia have been mounted: 2, 32, 96, 160, 224 and 252. The anterior section of M. mossambica is light brown and the white spots absent (fig. 6A). The limbate chaetae are observed throughout the chaetigers (fig. 6B). We observed that M. mossambica has three types of pectinate (described as ‘fan’ by Fauchald, 1987) chaetae: two asymmetrical and one with few teeth (figs. 6C, D, E), confirming the observations of Zanol et al. (2014). The first asymmetrical type consists of chaetae with about 30 teeth with broad shaft (figs. 6C, D), while the second asymmetrical type also has about 30 teeth but with shaft narrower than the first type (fig. 6E). The other type, with only eight to nine large saw-like teeth (identified as ‘wide-toothed pectinate’ by Zanol et al. 2014) is situated basally to the asymmetrical pectinate chaetae (figs. 6C, D). This type of pectinate chaeta only appears in posterior chaetigers (found in chaetigers 224 and 252) at the base of the chaetal fascicle and is easily obscured by limbate chaetae and other pectinate chaetae. We were able to observe this type of chaeta under SEM (also observed under SEM by Zanol et al. 2014) and only under light microscope with careful adjustment, which may explain why Fauchald (1987) failed to describe them when he re-examined the lectotype. Fauchald (1987, his figs. 1b, c) illustrates two types of pectinate chaetae, varying in the number of teeth—one with about 20 and one with 40, neither markedly asymmetrical, although, as seen in figs. 6C – E, they are clearly asymmetrical. These two types of pectinate chaetae are present from the early mid-body (>30 segments), which contradicts an earlier observation by Fauchald (1987), that they do not occur until after parapodia 100.

Glasby and Hutchings (2010) recorded M. mossambica from various locations in Australia, but did not examine the lectotype, relying on Fauchald’s (1987) revised description. Re-examination of other Australian material from Queensland identified as this species (AM W33021) under the SEM did not reveal the pectinate chaetae with only 8 – 9 teeth, and we now believe that the Australian material listed by Glasby and Hutchings (2010) needs to be re-examined as it may represent another undescribed species in this complex (we are now referring to it as Marphysa cf. mossambica until further studies are completed).

Figures

Figure 6. Marphysa mossambica. [A] anterior section, lateral view; [B] limbate chaetae, unique character for Group. A, chaetiger 2; [C] two types of pectinate chaetae (arrows), I: wide teeth and wide body, and II: asymmetrical pectinate with broad shaft, chaetiger 224; [D] details of pectinate chaetae, I: wide teeth and wide body, and II: asymmetrical pectinate with broad shaft, showing the cryptic position of wide teeth and wide body chaeta, chaetiger 224; [E] another type of pectinate chaeta, asymmetrical pectinate with narrow shaft. chaetiger 224. Scale bars: [A] = 5 mm; [B, C] = 100 µm; [D, E] = 10 µm. All images are from the lectotype (ZMB 4005).