Diopatra micrura Pires, Paxton, Quintino & Rodrigues 2010

Paxton, Hannelore & Arias, Andres, 2017, Unveiling a surprising diversity of the genus Diopatra Audouin & Milne Edwards, 1833 (Annelida: Onuphidae) in the Macaronesian region (eastern North Atlantic) with the description of four new species, Zootaxa 4300 (4), pp. 505-535 : 528-529

Diopatra micrura Pires, Paxton, Quintino & Rodrigues 2010

Figure 16 ; Table 1

Diopatra micrura Pires et al., 2010: 22 , figs 2–7.— Arias & Paxton 2014: 5 –8 ( Spain).

Material examined. Type material. Paratype: (AM W.36255), Ría de Aveiro, Portugal, 40°38’28.896”N – 08°44’0.276”W, intertidal, Mar 2009.

Non-type material. MNCN 16.01 /17822 (1 specimen); Las Canteras beach, Las Palmas, Gran Canaria , Canary Islands, 28°08’30’’N – 15°26’07’’W, intertidal, coll. A. Arias, 11 Jul 2012.

Type locality. Eastern North Atlantic , Portugal, Ría de Aveiro, 40°38’28.896”N – 08°44’0.276”W, intertidal.

Diagnosis. Prostomium anteriorly extended and pointed with two subulate frontal lips. Palps reaching chaetiger 2–4; antennae reaching chaetiger 4–13, with 12–15 ceratophoral rings, lateral projections absent; nuchal grooves crescentic; peristomial cirri present. Anterior four pairs of parapodia with bidentate pseudocompound hooks with pointed hoods; single postchaetal lobes. Ventral parapodial lobes present, ventral cirri on four chaetigers. Subacicular hooks from chaetiger 8–13; pectinate chaetae with 5–10 long teeth; spiralled branchiae, first on chaetiger 4–5 last single filament on chaetiger 30–50. Conspicuous colour pattern of transverse brown bands on antennostyles and palpostyles, brown peristomium and two dorsal lateral brown patches on anterior chaetigers ( Fig. 16 A, B). Tubes several cm above sediment level, highly ornamented with shell fragments and seaweeds, attached at angle to tube ( Fig. 16 C).

Remarks. The single specimen found measures 19 mm long, 1 mm wide with about 60 chaetigers. The specimen agrees well with the diagnosis of the species and presents a well preserved colour pattern. This is the first record of D. micrura in the Canary Islands and also in African waters, constituting the southernmost distribution of this species to date.

Distribution. Eastern North Atlantic (from the Portuguese coasts of Ría de Aveiro to the Canary Islands) and the western Mediterranean Sea (Southeast of Spain).

Figures

FIGURE 16. Diopatra micrura, photomicrographs. A, anterior end, dorsal view; B, live worm, dorsolateral view; C, worm protruding from tube.