Branchipolynoe Pettibone, 1984

Sui, Jixing & Li, Xinzheng, 2017, A new species and new record of deep-sea scale-worms (Polynoidae: Polychaeta) from the Okinawa Trough and the South China Sea, Zootaxa 4238 (4), pp. 562-570 : 563

Genus Branchipolynoe Pettibone, 1984

Type species: Branchipolynoe symmytilida Pettibone, 1984

Generic diagnosis (Emended from Pettibone, 1986).

Branchiae small to well developed, arborescent, on all parapodia from segment 2 or 3. Prostomium bilobed, with anterior lobes subtriangular or rounded. Median antenna present, style short; two pairs tentacular cirri, shorter than palps. First or tentacular segment visible dorsally as short ring or fused to prostomium. Notochaetae few (0–5) or moderate in number (5–20). Neuropodia with or without truncate lobes enclosing conical acicular lobes; neurochaetae very numerous, upper ones much stouter or only slightly stouter than lower ones. Commensal with deep-sea mussels at hydrothermal vents or cold-seeps.