Pilargis angeli, Salazar-Vallejo & Harris, 2006

Salazar-Vallejo, Sergio I. & Harris, Leslie H., 2006, Revision of Pilargis de Saint-Joseph, 1899 (Annelida, Polychaeta, Pilargidae), Journal of Natural History 40 (3 - 4), pp. 119-159 : 132-133

Pilargis angeli n. sp.

( Figure 4 A–D)

Type material

Eastern Tropical Pacific Ocean : holotype (UANL-1474) and two median fragments (UANL-1474a), coll. J. A. de León-González, off Western coast of Baja California Sur, Cruise H-2, 9 March 1990 .

Description

Holotype an anterior fragment, slightly damaged, 13 mm long, 2 mm wide, 69 setigers; longest median fragment 15 mm long, 2 mm wide, 69 setigers; shortest fragment 10 mm long, 2.2 mm wide, 38 setigers. Integument rugose, verrucae sparse, minute, concentrated on anterior end and dorsal cirri.

Prostomium fused with peristomium; palps biarticulate, palpostyles tiny rounded, directed ventrally. Antennae globose, smooth, rising from low protuberances on the base of palps, reaching the anterior margin of palps. Tentacular cirri cirriform, dorsal ones 1.2 times longer and 1.5 times wider than the ventral, those on the right side incomplete, the ventral is missing ( Figure 4A ).

First setiger with dorsal cirri longer than tentacular cirri, longer than following cirri. Anterior parapodia ( Figure 4B ) with some verrucae over the back and cirrostyles; dorsal cirrophore thick, globose; no traces of large glandular areas in the middle of the cirrophore nor epidermal glands, but a diffuse spotted pattern of glands in parapodia of median fragments. Ventral cirri elongate, about one-third as long as dorsal cirri; dorsal cirrostyles cirriform, very long, some with a distal swelling, 1.2–1.5 times cirrophore length. Median and posterior parapodia similar ( Figure 4 C–D), without verrucae; ventral cirri shorter, cirriform, longer than setal lobe.

Most neurosetae limbate, limbus denticulate, distally unidentate, straight, tend to curl distally; longer in the superior than in the inferior portion of setal bundle. Some superior setae smooth capillaries. Pygidium unknown. Brain posterior lobes reach setiger 1. Pharynx not everted; gut diverticula start in setiger 2.

Discussion

Pilargis angeli n. sp. is very similar to P. tardigrada (Webster) ; they differ because the first have verrucae on its anterior end, while the second has verrucae restricted to parapodial lobes. Further, the size of cirrostyles is different, being very long in P. angeli n. sp., and conical and shorter in P. tardigrada .

Etymology

This species is named after our colleague J. Angel de León-Gonzalez , who has been working a lot on Eastern Pacific polychaetes in general, and who provided us with the type material for this species .

Type locality

Off the Western coast of Baja California Sur, México.

Figures

Figure 4. (A–D) Pilargis angeli n. sp. UANL-1474: (A) anterior end in dorsal view (verrucae are mostly restricted to parapodia); (B) right setiger 10 in anterior view; (C) median setiger in anterior view; (D) right setiger 60 in anterior view. (E) Pilargis sp. juvenile BLM 85401 BF1, complete organism in dorsal view, slightly distorted by cover slip. Scale bars: 225 mm (A); 120 mm (B–D); 500 mm (E).