Genus Syllis Savigny in Lamarck, 1818

Syllis Savigny 1817: plate 4, fig. 3 [plate 4 probably published later than 1817]. Savigny in Lamarck 1818: 317 –318. Savigny 1822: 43 –44. Audouin 1826: 71. Savigny 1826: 372 –373.

Ioida Johnston 1840: 231 . (Type species: Ioida macrophthalma Johnston, 1840)

Gnathosyllis Schmarda 1861: 69 . (Type species: Gnathosyllis diplodonta Schmarda, 1861)

Trichosyllis Schmarda 1861: 73 . (Type species: Trichosyllis sylliformis Schmarda, 1861)

Heterosyllis Claparède 1863: 248 . (Type species: Heterosyllis brachiata Claparède, 1863)

Isosyllis Ehlers 1864: 251 . (Type species: never designated)

Pagenstecheria Quatrefages 1865: 17 . (Type species: Syllis oblonga Keferstein, 1862)

Aporosyllis Quatrefages 1865: 87 . (Type species: Syllis gracilis Grube, 1840)

Ehlersia Quatrefages 1865: 104 . (Type species: Syllis sexoculata Ehlers, 1864)

Thoe Kinberg 1866: 249 . (Type species: Thoe fusiformis Kinberg, 1866)

Eurymedusa Kinberg 1866: 249 . (Type species: Eurymedusa picta Kinberg, 1866)

Laomedora Kinberg 1866: 250 . (Type species: Laomedora fusifera Kinberg, 1866)

Chaetosyllis Malmgren 1867: 44 . (Type species: Chaetosyllis oerstedi Malmgren, 1867)

Typosyllis Langerhans 1879: 528 –529. (Type species: Syllis krohni Ehlers, 1864)

Langerhansia Czerniavsky 1881: 395 . (Type species: Syllis sexoculata Ehlers, 1864)

Paratyposyllis Hartmann-Schröder 1962: 95 . (Type species: Paratyposyllis paurocirrata Hartmann-Schröder, 1962)

Reductotyposyllis Hartmann-Schröder 1974: 123 . (Type species: Reductosyllis atentaculocirrata Hartmann-Schröder, 1974)

Type species: Syllis monilaris Savigny in Lamarck 1818: 318. Type by monotypy.

Diagnosis. Body cylindrical. Palps fused basally. Antennae, tentacular, anal, and dorsal cirri distinctly annulate, moniliform. Pharynx with dorsal tooth located on anterior rim or slightly posterior to anterior margin, pharynx with crown of soft papillae; some species with two crowns of papillae. Compound chaetae falcigerous, sometimes with pseudospinigers present in some regions of body, some species with thick pseudo-simple chaetae produced by loss of blade and enlargement of shaft, or by shaft and blade fusion, which can be only partial. Capillary dorsal and ventral simple chaetae present on posterior parapodia. Reproduction by scissiparous schizogamy (one single stolon at a time). Stolons dicerous, tetracerous or pentacerous; some species viviparous. For further details, see San Martín (1984, 1992, 2003), San Martín & Aguado (2014), and Simon et al. (2014).

Etymology. Although Lamarck (1818), Savigny (1822) and Grube (1850) did not specify anything about the origin of the name, San Martín & Aguado (2014) explained that Syllis was a nymph of the Greek Mythology. Syllis (also known as Hyllis) was daughter of Hyllus and Iole, and mother of Zeuxippus by Apollo. During the 19th Century the natural history was still very influenced by the currents of the Enlightenment and Neoclassicism, and it was common to name new taxa inspired by classical mythology.