Serpula vossae, Bastida-Zavala, Rolando, 2012

Bastida-Zavala, Rolando, 2012, Serpula and Spiraserpula (Polychaeta, Serpulidae) from the Tropical Western Atlantic and Gulf of Guinea, ZooKeys 198, pp. 1-23 : 4-8

Serpula vossae sp. n. Figs 3 A–D4A–J 56

Serpula sp. Bastida-Zavala and Salazar-Vallejo, 2000:852-854, fig. 4 B–K.

Type locality.

Honduras. Southwest of Honduras.

Type material.

Holotype (USNM 1157004), RV Pillsbury, cruise 6802, sta. 629, 15°58'N, 86°09'W, 40 m, March 21, 1968 (ex UMML 22.611); paratype (USNM 1157005), RV Pillsbury, cruise 6802, sta. 628, Honduras, East of Cayos Cochinos, 15°57'N, 86°15'W, 47 m, March 21, 1968 (ex UMML 22.610).

Additional material.

Guatemala. One complete specimen (UMML 22.1053) RV Pillsbury, cruise 6802, sta. 613, West of Punta Cortes, 15°58'N, 88°20'W, 10-feet otter trawl, 39 m, March 19, 1968. México. One complete specimen (ECOSUR s.n.) RV Edwin Link sta. 2792, 13 km from East of Isla Mujeres, Quintana Roo, 21°14'N, 86°36'W, 130 m, August 28, 1990, E. Escobar and L. Soto leg. Cuba. One complete specimen (Instituto de Oceanología de Cuba) Cayo Diego Pérez, Golfo de Batabanó, 15 m, July 20, 1988, D. Ibarzábal leg. Bahamas. Two complete specimens (UMML 22.435) RV Gerda, cruise 6433, sta. 391, North of Bahamas, 27°20'N, 79°11'W, screen dredge, 68 m, September 19, 1964.

Description.

Tube color brownish, or light brown to white; with 6-8 longitudinal ridges, all similar in size; some tubes with shallow transverse ridges, forming a rugged surface, other tubes lacking transverse ridges; most tubes lacking peristomes, two have only one peristome with appearance of a groove with shallow growth lines. Tubes lacking alveoli (Fig. 4A, C–D).

Body pale yellow (preserved material only, Fig. 4B). TL= 38.5 mm (n=7, r:20-45.5, µ =36.6 ± 10.3); THW= 2 mm (n=7, r:1.5-3.4, µ =2.3 ± 0.6). Branchial crown with 29 radioles (n=7, r:19-37, µ =30.9 ± 6.4) left, and 29 right (n=7, r:12-35, µ =30.9 ± 8.8); lacking branchial membrane (Fig. 4E).

Peduncle smooth with insertion on left (n=2) or right (n=5); with shallow (n= 4) to well-defined constriction (n= 3) (Figs 3A, C, 4 H–J). Pseudoperculum club-shaped, present in all specimens.

Operculum with long, deep symmetrical funnel; with a slightly bulbous basal part above constriction (Figs 3A, C, 4 H–J). OL= 3.2 mm (n=7, r:2-4.5, µ =3.3 ± 0.8), OD= 2 mm (n=7, r:1.4-2.8, µ =2.3 ± 0.5). Interradial grooves 2/3 of funnel length. Funnel with 21 radii (n=7, r:21-33, µ =27.4 ± 3.7) with rounded tips (Figs 3A, C, 4 H–J). Opercular inner surface lacking tubercles (Fig. 3 A–D).

Collar thick, with short ventral and dorsal lobes. Thorax consists of seven chaetigers. Collar fascicles in three specimens asymmetrical with regard to sizes and number of chaetae; right fascicle with larger and more chaetae than left fascicle (Fig. 4E). Bayonet chaetae with two blunt-elongate teeth, distal blade smooth, lacking proximal rasp (Fig. 4G); hooded (capillary) chaetae present.

Thoracic membranes well developed, narrowing toward last thoracic chaetigers, fused ventrally, forming a short apron. Remaining six thoracic chaetigers with hooded (limbate) chaetae of two sizes; saw-shaped uncini.

Anterior part of abdomen lacks a distinct achaetous region. Anterior and middle abdominal chaetigers with flat-trumpet chaetae. Posterior chaetigers with ‘capillary’ chaetae. Anterior and posterior uncini saw-shaped.

Variation.

Operculum of holotype (USNM 1157004) has roseate radial tips (Fig. 4H); the rest of specimens are yellow to white (Fig. 4 I–J). Operculum and radioles of specimen from Guatemala (UMML 22.1053) have hard particles adhered, possibly salt concretions (Fig. 4I); operculum more rigid compared with the other specimens.

Etymology.

Named after Professor Nancy Voss, a distinguished cephalopod specialist and Director of the Marine Invertebrate Museum, who generously loaned the serpulid samples from the oceanographic expeditions of the University of Miami.

Distribution.

Tropical Caribbean. Bahamas, Cuba, Mexican Caribbean, Guatemala and Honduran Caribbean (Fig. 6).

Ecology.

Sublittoral, 15 to 130 m. On rocky and sandy bottoms, and associated with siliceous sponges and several syllid polychaetes specimens. In the same samples, there were other serpulids: Hyalopomatus sp., Hydroides parvus , Pomatostegus stellatus , Pseudovermilia fuscostriata , Pseudovermilia occidentalis , Spiraserpula ypsilon , and a vermetid shell.

Reproductive characters.

The specimen from Cayo Diego Pérez, Cuba, has eggs adhering to the pinnules of the radioles. The eggs, circular to slightly oval, are 55-68 µm (Fig. 4F).

Remarks.

Serpula vossae sp. n. resembles other Serpula species with long and deep symmetrical funnels, as in Serpula columbiana Johnson, 1901, Serpula concharum Langerhans, 1880, Serpula longituba Imajima, 1979, Serpula sinica Wu & Chen, 1979, Serpula uschakovi Kupriyanova, 1999, Serpula vittata Augener, 1914, and Serpula watsoni Willey, 1905. However, Serpula vossae sp. n. differs in having an operculum with a smooth inner surface, while Serpula watsoni has tubercles( Pillai 2009); Serpula vossae sp. n. has fewer opercular radii (21-33, Figs 4 B–D, 5) than Serpula columbiana (55-160) or Serpula uschakovi (62-136) ( Kupriyanova 1999); Serpula vossae sp. n. has 6-8 longitudinal ridges in the tube (Fig. 4A, C–D), while Serpula columbiana , Serpula longituba and Serpula uschakovi lack longitudinal ridges ( Imajima 1979, Kupriyanova 1999), whereas Serpula concharum , Serpula vittata , and Serpula watsoni have five or less ( Rioja 1931, Imajima 1977, 1982); Serpula vossae sp. n. has more radioles per branchial lobe (19-37) than Serpula concharum (6-15), Serpula longituba (9-10), Serpula sinica (13), while Serpula uschakovi has even more (43-61) than Serpula vossae sp. n. Serpula vossae sp. n. has collar chaetae with two teeth (Fig. 4G), while Serpula longituba lacks bayonet chaetae ( Imajima 1979), Serpula sinica has bayonet chaetae lacking basal teeth ( Wu et al. 1979), and Serpula vittata and Serpula watsoni have 10 and five basal teeth in the bayonet chaetae, respectively ( Imajima 1977, 1982). These characters and others have been compared in Table 1.

Regarding the Serpula species recorded in the Western Atlantic, Serpula vossae sp. n. differs from Serpula vermicularis granulosa Day, 1973, from Beaufort, North Carolina, because the former has a longer, deeper operculum, and lacks tubercles on the internal funnel surface (Figs 3 A–D, 4 H–J); while Serpula vossae sp. n. differs from Serpula sp. A ( ten Hove and Wolf 1984) and Serpula madrigalae sp. n. because the former has a longer and deeper operculum, with more opercular radii (21-33) than the latter ( Serpula sp. A has 18 radii, Serpula madrigalae sp. n. has 17).

Serpula vossae sp. n. differs from Serpula cf. vermicularis, recorded here from Nigeria, in the same characters mentioned for Serpula vermicularis granulosa , and, additionally in having fewer opercular radii in relation to the body length than the latter (Fig. 5).