Aponuphis Kucheruk, 1978

Arias, Andrés & Paxton, Hannelore, 2015, Onuphis and Aponuphis (Annelida: Onuphidae) from southwestern Europe, with the description of a new species, Zootaxa 3949 (3), pp. 345-369 : 357-358

Genus Aponuphis Kucheruk, 1978

Aponuphis Kucheruk, 1978: 91 .

Type species: Hyalinoecia bilineata Baird, 1870: 358 by original designation. Gender: feminine.

Diagnosis. Prostomium anteriorly extended; with oval frontal lips, short palps and long antennae, ceratophores with up to 20 rings; peristomial cirri absent. Anterior three to six (rarely seven to eight) pairs of parapodia modified but not enlarged, with bi- to tridentate (rarely quadridentate) pseudocompound to compound hooks; median hooks slightly larger. Ventral cirri subulate on four to seven chaetigers. Dorsal limbate chaetae from chaetiger 1, ventral limbate chaetae replacing hooks from chaetiger 4 or later until replaced by bidentate hooded subacicular hooks from chaetiger 9–15. Branchiae, rarely absent, usually present from chaetiger 4, rarely 1–7; single filament. Tubes thin, consisting of inner mucous and outer layer of sand or broken shells.

Remarks. Specific identification of Aponuphis has been problematic. Too much emphasis was placed on too few diagnostic characters, such as branchiae and the pseudocompound hooks of the anterior modified parapodia. This was compounded by the fact that these structures are size-dependent during ontogeny and in some species the adult state of a character is only attained when the worm has reached two-thirds of its maximum size. Although the species display distinctive colour patterns, there is intraspecific variation of patterns due to varying degrees of pigmentation. Two schools of thought developed with respect to the nomenclature of the group. Bellan (1964) and Amoureux (1971; 1976) considered all subspecies and related species of A. bilineata as ecological “forms” and synonyms of that species, while among others Laubier & Paris (1962), Glémarec (1969) and Guille (1971) maintained the validity of the different species.

Fauvel (1923: 424) listed Aponuphis rigida ( Claparède, 1868) as Hyalinoecia bilineata var. rigida from the Bay of Biscay, Santander and Madeira. However, we have been unable to trace this statement to a primary record. We are here reporting four species of Aponuphis from southwestern Europe, of which A. willsiei is a new record for the Iberian Peninsula waters.