Polycirrus pennulifera Verrill, 1900

Londoño-Mesa, Mario H., 2009, Terebellidae (Polychaeta: Terebellida) from the Grand Caribbean region 2320, Zootaxa 2320 (1), pp. 1-93 : 23

Polycirrus pennulifera Verrill, 1900

Polycirrus pennulifera, Verrill, 1900:665–666 .

Type material: Not found.

Description based on original description: Specimen complete, 65 segments; 35mm long. Anteriorly swollen and posteriorly elongated. Tentacles numerous, slender. Twenty pairs of notopodia. Notochaetae lanceolate, slender, with flattened blade and striated bilimbations; edge of limbs pennate, resembling feathers (hence the name of the species). Neuropodia from segment 21, along 40 segments, with 15–16 uncini in each row on the neuropodium. Uncini MF:1:1; Sr unknown; AP long, acute; AF small; Bs wedge-shaped; PP rounded, prominent; PF absent; Cp concave, with two rows of single teeth; MF long, acute, scarcely recurved, considerable shorter than base and nearly parallel with it. Pygidium features unknown.

Discussion: Further specimens belonging to this species has not been recorded since the species was originally described. None of the specimens revised for this study presented the morphological characters presented in the description. Thus, this species is recognized mainly by the number of pairs of notopodium, and segment on which uncini first appear. The original description does not state shape of tentacular membrane, upper and lower lip, presence of eyespots, ventral shields, nephridial papillae and first segment with chaetae; and the species is not illustrated by Verrill. These features could be described after the examination of type specimens, which was not found either in YPM, where Verrill deposited most of his specimens, or in nearby institutions as AMNH, NMNH, and MCZ.

Type locality and distribution: Bermuda. In shallow water .