Nereis eugeniae (Kinberg, 1865)

Darbyshire, Teresa, 2014, Intertidal and nearshore Nereididae (Annelida) of the Falkland Islands, southwestern Atlantic, including a new species of Gymnonereis, ZooKeys 427, pp. 75-108 : 90-92

Taxon classification Animalia Phyllodocida Nereididae

Nereis eugeniae (Kinberg, 1865) Figure 5

Nicon eugeniae Kinberg, 1865: 178.

Nereis eugeniae . - Ehlers 1897: 67-70, Pl. IV, figs 94-105. - Ehlers 1901: 105, Pl. XII, figs 18-22. - Ramsay 1914: 43. - Monro 1930: 104. - Hartman 1964: 100-101, Pl. XXX, figs 9-10. - Hartman 1967: 65.

Description.

Length up to 170 mm, width up to 3 mm including parapodia for up to 125 chaetigers. Eyes absent or present. Paragnaths arranged as follows (Fig. 5A, B): Area I = 0; Area II = small group (up to 11); Area III = absent or sparse, irregular row (2-6); Area IV = absent or group (0-18); Area V = 0-1; Area VI = small group (3-6); Areas VII–VIII = sparse, irregular row (0-11). Jaws dark, 5-7 teeth.

Dorsal cirrus longer than notopodia throughout, becoming more pronounced posteriorly. Anterior notopodia (Fig. 5C) with dorsal and median ligules equal in size, dorsal ligule reducing in size posteriorly. Small notopodial prechaetal lobe present in anterior chaetigers.

Neuropodia with postchaetal lobe and ventral ligule conical; postchaetal lobe shorter than notopodial ligules and ventral ligule in anterior chaetigers, becoming more equal in size posteriorly (Fig. 5D).

Anterior notopodia with homogomph spinigers only, 2-3 homogomph falcigers present from median chaetigers on. Neuropodia with homogomph spinigers and heterogomph falcigers in superior fascicle, inferior fascicle with heterogomph spinigers and falcigers (Fig. 5E).

Remarks.

The above description is an amalgamation of the information provided by Ehlers (1897), Monro (1930) and Hartman (1964, 1967), although of these, only Monro published on specimens from the Falkland Islands. The type locality for the species is the Strait of Magellan, but Kinberg (1865) gave little detail about the animal itself. The species was later comprehensively re-described and drawn by Ehlers (1897). Descriptions by different authors are quite variable, particularly regarding the paragnaths arrangements. Ramsay (1914) gave no details about his specimens except to say that they "agreed in all respects" with Ehlers’ description whereas Monro (1930) noted that, in contrast to Ehlers’ description, the paragnaths of Areas VII–VIII “form a single very sparse irregular row and in a number of the larger examples they appear to be altogether absent"

Nereis eugeniae was not collected by this survey, however it has been recorded from several offshore locations around the islands from 1-115 m ( Ramsay 1914; Monro 1930) and Monro (1930) described the species as being "common off the Falkland Islands". There are no intertidal records for the area, however Nereis eugeniae has been recorded intertidally from Chile ( Ehlers 1901; Hartman 1967). Although not recorded here, the species is known to be present in shallow water around the islands and could potentially be found intertidally also.

Habitat.

Sand, shell, stones, cobbles; intertidal– 156 m.

Distribution.

Strait of Magellan, Chile, Falkland Islands, Kerguelen Islands, Patagonia.