Loimia Malmgren, 1866

Londoño-Mesa, Mario H., 2009, Terebellidae (Polychaeta: Terebellida) from the Grand Caribbean region 2320, Zootaxa 2320 (1), pp. 1-93 : 36-37

Loimia Malmgren, 1866

Malmgren, 1866:380. Hessle, 1917:170.— Hutchings & Glasby, 1995:149–150.

Type species: Terebella medusa Savigny in Lamarck, 1818, by monotypy.

Diagnosis: Branchiae on segments 2–4; eyespots present or absent; lateral lappets on segments 1 and 3 (rarely 1, 3 and 4); ventral shields from segment 2 or 3; pairs of nephridial papillae on segments 3–4 and 6–8; 17 pairs of notopodia from segment 4; chaetae bilimbate, with smooth tips; neuropodia from segment 5, uncini with single vertical series of teeth; uncini in single rows on segments 5–10; uncini in double separated rows, arranged back to back, until segment 20; thereafter uncini in single rows; pygidium sometimes with anal cirri. Remarks: Holthe (1986b) recognized 15 valid species but from those described from the Grand Caribbean , none are apparently valid. Thus, L. bermudensis Verrill, 1900 , from Bermuda, and L. minuta Treadwell, 1929 , from Florida, have been synonymized with L. medusa (Savigny in Lamarck, 1822). However, based on examination of their type specimens, both are regarded as distinct taxa; one has been already reinstated, and the other is herein reinstated.

Two other species have been described from the North Atlantic Ocean: Loimia viridis Moore, 1903 , from Woods Hole, Massachusetts, and L. turgida Andrews, 1892 , from North Carolina; both are regarded as valid species. Recently, Londoño-Mesa and Carrera-Parra (2005) described a new species, L. salazari , from the Mexican Caribbean .

Since L. medusa was considered having a wide distribution, it has been identified in the Grand Caribbean region in many reports ( Salazar-Vallejo, 1996). Nevertheless, Hutchings and Glasby (1995) indicated that such worldwide distribution is doubtful, and described a new species for the Australian records previously identified as L. medusa . A current study is being done to evaluate the wide distribution of this species in the Caribbean . All these differences about Loimia species will appear in a forthcoming world revision of the genus.