Nephasoma pellucidum (Keferstein)

Cutler, Edward B., Schulze, Anja & Dean, Harlan K., 2004, Zealand species, Zootaxa 525, pp. 1-19 : 8

Nephasoma pellucidum (Keferstein)

Phascolosoma pellucidum Keferstein, 1865: 433 .

Type locality: St Thomas, Virgin Islands, 4 m.

Remarks: The eight representatives of this species in the collections have sausageshaped trunks 10–50 mm long that are uniformly covered with distinct papillae which were usually darker than the underlying light brown body. Scattered pale hooks can usually be seen and the single pair of retractor muscles originate in the middle third of the trunk. Some had ruptured body walls or the internal organs were poorly preserved. Two earlier reports from the Galathea expeditions (Cutler, 1977a: 143; 1977b: 152) included hesitant and tentative identifications of a few worms from New Zealand waters at 30 m and 660 m that were not well preserved and/or did not exhibit the normal array of hooks and papillae. Therefore, these were intentionally omitted from later works (Cutler in press; Cutler & Saiz, in press).

Distribution: Generally a shallow­water species, with a few bathyal records, from the western Atlantic and Caribbean south to Brazil. In the South Pacific and Indian oceans from Indonesia and Australia, southern Japan, and one record each from Cape Province and India. These records confirm the presence of this species in the New Zealand region.