Flabelligera haswelli

Salazar-Vallejo, Sergio I., 2012, Revision of Flabelligera Sars, 1829 (Polychaeta: Flabelligeridae) 3203, Zootaxa 3203 (1), pp. 1-64 : 18-20

Flabelligera haswelli new name

Figure 5

Siphonostoma affine Haswell 1886:750–752 , Pl. 54, Figs. 1–5 ; Haswell 1892:329, footnote, Pl. 27, Fig. 23 , Pl. 28, Fig. 26.

Type material. Southeastern Australia. Neotype ( AM-8674 ), Halifax Park, Port Stephens (32°45'00" S, 151°49'59" E), New South Wales, 8 m, under rock, 6 Dec. 1978, N. Coleman coll.

Additional material. Southeastern Australia. One specimen ( AM-4315 ), Bottle + Glass rocks, Vaucluse Pt., near Sydney , New South Wales, low tide, in sand under rocks, 23 Oct. 1968, H. Paxton coll. (tunic partially and almost all neurochaetae removed) . One specimen ( AM-4549 ), Newport, New South Wales, on coast (no further data) (tunic partially removed, most neurochaetae undamaged). One anterior fragment ( AM-25955 ), Split Solitary Island , New South Wales, 16 m, among algae, sponge and tunicates, 7 Mar. 1992, P. Hutchings coll.

Description. Neotype (AM-8674) damaged. Body oval, cylindrical, posteriorly tapered, broken into two pieces ( Fig. 5A ), 35 mm long, 3 mm wide (10 mm wide including broken tunic), cephalic cage 3.5 mm long, 48 chaetigers). Tunic thick, without sediment particles, damaged dorsally; papillae dark.

Cephalic hood not exposed ( Fig. 5B ). Prostomium low cone; four large eyes, anterior ones slightly larger. Caruncle projected dorsally, separating the lateral branchial groups. Palps larger than branchiae, contracted; palp bases prominent, triangular.

Branchial filaments separated into two lateral groups, each with about 30 filaments, varying in size, but longest filaments shorter than palps. Lateral lips thick, muscular; dorsal and ventral lips reduced. Nephridial lobes damaged by dissection.

Cephalic cage chaetae one-tenth as long as body, slightly longer than body width. Chaetiger 1 involved in cephalic cage, about 40 chaetae per rami. Anterior dorsal margin of chaetiger 1 smooth, slightly depressed (some specimens with a transverse band of pigmented spots AM-25955). Anterior chaetigers without long papillae. Chaetigers become longer after the first but after chaetiger 4, reduced in length. Chaetal transition from cephalic cage to body chaetae abrupt; neurochaetal type change in chaetiger 2 ( Fig. 5C ). Gonopodial lobes not seen ( Fig. 5D ).

Parapodia well developed. Notopodia and neuropodia projecting cones with long papillae covering the chaetae. Notopodia lateral, neuropodia ventrolateral.

Median notochaetae arranged in short transverse rows (as in a fan); all multiarticulated capillaries, smooth, about as long as body width, 7–9 per bundle, with regular, poorly defined articulations. Neurochaetae multiarticulate capillaries in chaetiger 1; other neuropodia with mostly single hooks from chaetiger 2, some neuropodia with two hooks. Multiarticulated neurohooks with crest entire, reddish ( Fig. 5E, F ). Handle articulation basally placed, articles roughly of the same length; 3–4 articles, medium-sized and long. Other articles anchylosed, small, continued to the bending region. Crest slightly wider than handle, dark brown along the body, with darker distal half; width:length ratio 1:4–5.

Posterior end tapered; pygidium truncate, conical, anus terminal, without anal cirri.

Etymology. The species is named for the late Dr. William A. Haswell, who made several studies on Australian polychaetes, two of which dealt with flabelligerid polychaetes.

Remarks. Flabelligera haswelli n. n. resembles F. salazarae n. sp. (see below); they differ in the relative tunic thickness or resistance and in the type of neurohooks. In F. haswelli , the tunic is thick and resistant, and the neurohooks are shorter and thicker with wider crests, whereas F. salazarae n. sp. has a thin, delicate tunic, with neurohooks that are longer and thinner with tapering crests.

Haswell (1886) overlooked the description by Sars (1829) but he regarded his species as closely allied to S. diplochaitus ( Otto, 1821) , which belongs in Flabelligera . Thus, the new combination F. affine ( Haswell, 1886) becomes a junior, secondary homonym of F. affinis Sars, 1829 ( ICZN 1999, Art. 57.3); the difference in declension is not enough to retain both names since they are derived from the same adjective ( ICZN 1999, Art. 57.6). The junior homonym name must be replaced ( ICZN 1999, Art. 60) as has been done above. Haswell studied a living subtidal specimen and stated that it was light red and crimson posteriorly, which cannot be confirmed because color fades in alcohol. The eye arrangement that he illustrated could be explained as a pigmented area including the four eyes, whereas the smaller ones could be accessory eyes, which have been found in other flabelligerids. There are no types deposited in the Macleay Museum, University of Sydney (S. Norrington, e-mail, 15 Sept. 2003), nor in the Australian Museum; therefore, a neotype has been proposed.

Neotype locality: Port Stephens , New South Wales, Australia ( ICZN 1999, Art. 76.3).

Distribution. Originally described from Port Jackson, Australia. The present specimens come from several localities in Southeastern Australia, close to the type locality. The Southeastern Australian records of F. affinis Sars must be regarded as questionable although they might represent F. haswelli .

Figures

FIGURE 1. Flabelligera affinis Sars, 1829. A. Non-type specimens (ZMUB-18636), dorsal view. B. Non-type specimen (MNHN- 184b), anterior end, dorsal view. C. Same, anterior end, ventral view. D. Non-type specimen (MNHN-184a), anterior end, most tunic removed, head exposed (Ca: caruncle, LL: lateral lip, NL: nephridial lobe, PL: palp lobe). E. Non-type specimen (ZMUB- 2253), lateral view, most tunic removed. F. Same, chaetiger 10, notochaetal basal and medial regions (insert: subdistal regions). G. Same, chaetiger 10, neurochaetae (inserts: articulated, median region and crest). Scale bars: A: 1.3 mm, B: 2.3 mm, C: 2 mm, D: 0.5 mm, E: 10 mm, F: 195 µm, G: 120 µm.

FIGURE 2. Flabelligera bicolor (Schmarda, 1861). A. Syntype (BMNH-1908.5.9.33), lateral view. B. Same, anterior end, lateral view. C. Another syntype (BMNH-1908.5.9.33), head, frontal view (BS: branchial scars, Ca: caruncle, LL: lateral lip, VL: ventral lip). D. Same, chaetiger 10, basal and medial notochaetal regions. E. Same, neurohook. F. Same, posterior chaetiger, neurohook (insert: handle articulation). Scale bars: A: 2.2 mm, B: 2.3 mm, C: 1 mm, D: 66 µm, E: 0.30 mm, F: 0.38 mm.

FIGURE 3. Flabelligera bophortica Annenkova-Chlopina, 1924, syntypes (ZIRAS-27043). A. Best syntype, lateral view. B. Same, anterior end, oblique, ventrolateral view. C. Same, head, frontal view (BS: branchial scars, Ca: caruncle, DL: dorsal lip, LL: lateral lip, PS: palp scar, VL: ventral lip). D. Same, neuropodia 4–7, oblique, ventral view showing gonopodial lobes (GL), E. Same, chaetiger 10, notochaetae (inserts: basal, medial and subdistal regions). F. Same, posterior chaetiger, neurohooks (inserts: handle articulation and crest close-up). Scale bars: A: 3.3 mm, B: 1.3 mm, C: 0.5 mm, D: 0.8 mm, E: 320 µm, F: 260 µm.

FIGURE 4. Flabelligera diplochaitus (Otto, 1821). Non-type specimens (MNHN-507). A. Anterior end, dorsal view. B. Same, head, frontal view (BS: branchial scars, DL: dorsal lip, LL: lateral lip, VL: ventral lip). C. Same, close-up showing prostomium (Pr), base of caruncle (Ca), nephridial lobes (NL), and palp scars (PS). D. Another specimen, median chaetiger, cross section. E. Non-type specimens (MNHN-507), chaetiger 9, neurohooks (insert: handle articles). F. Another specimen (MNHN-184), head, frontal view, palps and branchiae removed; arrow indicates parasite. Scale bars: A: 1.2 mm, B: 0.5 mm, C: 0.2 mm, D: 0.7 mm, E: 0.4 mm, F: 0.7 mm.

FIGURE 5. Flabelligera haswelli new name, neotype (AM-8674). A. Complete, bent ventrally, anterior end in dorsal view. B. Same, anterior end in oblique, ventral view. C. Same, anterior end, oblique ventral view. D. Same, anterior end, ventral view. E. Same, chaetiger 14, neurohook. F. Same, chaetiger 22, neurohooks. Scale bars: A, B: 3.7 mm, C: 0.9 mm, D: 1 mm, E: 190 µm, F: 176 µm.

FIGURE 23. Flabesymbios commensalis (Moore, 1909) n. comb. A. Relaxed specimen, Santa Barbara, California. B. Same, anterior end, dorsal view. C. Same, anterior end, lateral view. D. Juvenile sea-urchin (Strongylocentrotus purpuratus), adoral view, reddish flabelligerid wandering on it (black arrow) and whitish fecal pellets (white arrow). E. Flabelligerid, anterior end, dorsal view, among ambulacral feet. F. Same, polychaete passing by a pedicellarium (Pe) with reddish epithelium and a whitish spine base. Scale bars: A–E: 1.4 mm, B: 0.6 mm, C: 0.3 mm, D: 2.7 mm, F: 0.7 mm.