Metavermilia multicristata ( Philippi, 1844 )

Kupriyanova, Elena K., Sun, Yanan, Ten Hove, Harry A., Wong, Eunice & Rouse, Greg W., 2015, Serpulidae (Annelida) of Lizard Island, Great Barrier Reef, Australia, Zootaxa 4019 (1), pp. 275-353 : 300

Metavermilia multicristata ( Philippi, 1844)

Vermilia multicristata Philippi, 1844: 193 , pl. 6, fig. K [Southern Italy].

Vermiliopsis multicristata . — Fauvel 1909: 60 –61 [Azores; diagnosis]; 1914: 344 [same]; Southward 1963 [continental slope off Brittany]; Zibrowius 1968: 128 –130, pl. 3, figs 25–43, pl. 14, fig. g [Northwest Mediterranean]; Bailey-Brock 1976: 77 [Hawaii; name].

Metavermilia multicristata . — Zibrowius 1971: 1375 –1377, fig. 1 [Mediterranean/Atlantic; revision, description]; Thorp et al. 1986: 884 [British harbours]; ten Hove 1993: 83 [ Seychelles, deeper water (150–600 m)]; 1994: 109 [same]; Sun & Yang 2001b: 213, fig. 1L–Q [Xisha Islands, South China Sea]; Nishi et al. 2007: 49 [name in key]; Vinn et al. 2008: 634, 635 [ Seychelles]; ten Hove & Kupriyanova 2009: 63 [name only].

Material examined. ZMA V.Pol. 4696, stn.16, North Point, sloping reef, mainly dead, slightly silted corals, 3–17 m, coll. H. ten Hove, P. Hutchings & M. Reid, 1 Mar 1986; ZMA V.Pol. 4741 (2), stn.22, between Osprey Island & beach of Resort, intertidal at low tide, from below large boulders on rocky bottom, coll. H. ten Hove & P. Hutchings, 6 Mar 1986; ZMA V.Pol. 4881, Granite Head, 14°39'S, 145°27'E, from underside of boulders on rock, little sand, subtidally, coll. H. ten Hove, 18 Jun 1983 (id as Spirobranchus cf. polytrema ).

Diagnosis. Opercular ampulla globular, covered with simple chitinous, convex distal cap; tube with 5–7 longitudinal keels and some transverse ridges between, giving the tube a porose appearance.

Remarks. The tube and operculum of the specimen from North Point are indistinguishable from Mediterranean material (ZMA V.Pol. 3130) when compared under the stereomicroscope and very similar to Sun & Yang (2001b: 213, fig. 1L–M). The two specimens from Osprey Island are the same, including tubes, but for the fact that their opercula (similar to that figured by Bianchi 1981: fig. 29e) appear to have a thin veneer or incrustation of calcareous matter in the opercular cap, just as in the operculum on half branchial crown from Granite Head. Notwithstanding the fact that an essentially temperate-subtropical Mediterranean species of deeper waters is unlikely to occur in tropical waters from the Indo-Pacific, for the time being we regard the material to be conspecific.

Distribution. Subtropical to temperate Atlantic, Mediterranean, West Indian Ocean, South China Sea. New record for Australia.