Syllidia Quatrefages, 1866

Ruta, Christine & Pleijel, Fredrik, 2006, A revision of Syllidia (Psamathini, Hesionidae, Polychaeta), Journal of Natural History 40 (9 - 10), pp. 503-521 : 504-505

Syllidia Quatrefages, 1866

Syllidia Quatrefages 1866, p 13 ; Grube 1880, p 222; Czerniavsky 1882, p 174–175; Saint- Joseph 1888, p 317; Gravier 1900, p 172; Chamberlin 1919, p 185–186; Horst 1921, p 77; Hartman 1959, p 192–193; Day 1967, p 226; Hartmann-Schröder 1971, p 126; 1996, p 138; Averincev 1972, p 147; Fauchald 1977, p 77; Pleijel 1998, p 126.

Magalia Marion and Bobretzky in Marion 1874, p 399; Marion and Bobretzky 1875, p 54; Grube 1880, p 222; Czerniavsky 1882, p 174–175; Saint-Joseph 1888, p 317; Gravier 1900, p 172; McIntosh 1908, p 136; Ehlers 1912, p 15–17; Chamberlin 1919, p 186; Fauvel 1923, p 246; Hartman 1959, p 188; Pleijel 1998, p 126.

Pseudosyllidia Czerniavsky 1882, p 174 –175; Saint-Joseph 1888, p 317; Hartman 1959, p 192; Fauchald 1977, p 77; Pleijel 1998, p 126.

Type species

Syllidia armata Quatrefages, 1866 , by monotypy.

Apomorphies

Presence of well-developed, paired jaws with a median stylet.

Description

Psamathini with eyes and small facial tubercle. Ventral proboscis incision present, terminal ring of proboscis with 10 papillae, paired lateral jaws, and median stylet present, proboscis diaphragm absent. Lip glands absent or present (uncertainty). Enlarged dorsal cirri segments 1–5, enlarged ventral cirri segments 1–3. Emerging notopodial hooks absent, notochaetae absent. Neuropodial lobes and neurochaetae from segment 3 or 4. Some blades of compound neurochaetae with prolonged teeth; tips unidentate. Paired ventral segmental adhesive papillae absent. Median pygidial papillae present.

Remarks

Marion and Bobretzky (in Marion 1874) erected Magalia for the new species M. perarmata from Marseille in southern France. As generally agreed in more recent literature, the two type species are considered synonymous (see Remarks for S. armata ), and Magalia consequently also becomes a junior synonym of Syllidia .

The generic name Pseudosyllidia was introduced by Czerniavsky (1882) for a species from Madeira that Langerhans (1880) had identified as S. armata . Czerniavsky believed Langerhans had misidentified his specimens, and that they should be referred to both a new species and a new genus. He therefore introduced the new generic name Pseudosyllidia , but, oddly enough, applied the same species epithet, armata . In contrast to Czerniavsky we believe that Langerhans’ identification was correct, and therefore treat Pseudosyllidia as a junior synonym of Syllidia . Syllidia armata ( Czerniavsky, 1882) thus becomes both a junior synonym and a junior homonym of S. armata Quatrefages, 1866 . Note that Hartman (1959, p 192) misinterpreted the type locality of Czerniavsky’s species to be the Black Sea, whereas actually it is Madeira. The identity of the specimens that Langerhans referred to Magalia perarmata is more doubtful, and unfortunately none of his specimens of either S. armata and M. perarmata were deposited or they have been lost.

Syllidia , according to Pleijel (1998), is a member of Psamathini and the sister group to Nereimyra Blainville, 1828 and Bonuania Pillai, 1965 , an unnamed clade united by the presence of jaws and a unique pattern of alternation of the dorsal cirri (but unknown for Bonuania ). See Pleijel (1998) and Ruta and Pleijel (in press) for further description of this character. The alternation pattern in S. armata and S. hongkongensis is described below; it is unknown for the other members of Syllidia .