Protodiopatra, Budaeva & Fauchald, 2011

Budaeva, Nataliya & Fauchald, Kristian, 2011, Phylogeny of the Diopatra generic complex with a revision of Paradiopatra Ehlres, 1887 (Polychaeta: Onuphidae), Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 163 (2), pp. 319-436 : 414

PROTODIOPATRA GEN. NOV.

Type species: Nothria willemoesii McIntosh, 1885 .

Gender: Feminine.

Diagnosis: Median antenna longer than lateral antennae; first four pairs of parapodia modified but not enlarged, with pseudocompound falcigers with moderately long and pointed hoods; limbate chaetae smooth without serrations; branchiae pectinate, present on all chaetigers except the few anteriormost ones; postchaetal lobes present on all chaetigers; two pairs of anal cirri; maxillae VI absent.

Remarks: Nothria willemoesii was described by McIntosh (1885) from Amboina, Indonesia. Fauchald (1982) re-examined the type material of N. willemoesii and referred it to a new genus, Sarsonuphis , based on the presence of long pointed hoods on anterior falcigers. Later, Paxton (1986a) considered Sarsonuphis to be a junior synonym of Paradiopatra , with all species included originally by Fauchald (1982).

Here we refer N. willemoesii to a new genus Protodiopatra . Protodiopatra resembles other members of Paradiopatra closely in having long pointed hoods on the anterior four pairs of parapodia, but differs in having a relatively long (longer than lateral antennae), rather than short, median antenna; welldeveloped postchaetal lobes on all chaetigers, rather than just the anteriormost chaetigers 5–10, and having branchiae continuing to the end of the body rather than being restricted to the median chaetigers. In addition, Protodiopatra has a unique tube among all polychaetes, with a curved distal part covered by dense very long and thin spines.

Etymology: The generic name, Protodiopatra , was selected to show the affinity of the new genus to the Diopatra complex, and its basal position relative to Diopatra and Paradiopatra .

Composition: One species.

Distribution: Western Pacific Ocean: Japan, China, Philippines; subtidal.