Parasphaerosyllis malimalii Capa, San Martin & Lopez , 2001

Gongora-Garza, Gerardo, Tovar-Hernandez, Maria Ana & de Leon-Gonzalez, Jesus Angel, 2024, Re-description of Parasphaerosyllis indica Monro, 1937 (Annelida, Syllidae), with the establishment of a new species from western Mexico, Biodiversity Data Journal 12, pp. 116082-116082 : 116082

Parasphaerosyllis malimalii Capa, San Martin & Lopez, 2001

Parasphaerosyllis malimalii Parasphaerosyllis malimalii Capa, San Martín and López, 2001: 281, figs. 1-2.

Materials

Type status: Other material. Occurrence: catalogNumber: UANL 8168 ; individualCount: 1; occurrenceID: 8226B633-08F1-5B4D-8766-7C761B753C2A; Taxon: phylum: Annelida ; class: Polychaeta ; order: Phyllodocida ; family: Syllidae ; genus: Parasphaerosyllis ; specificEpithet: malimalii; Location : higherGeographyID: Tropical Eastern Pacific ; higherGeography: Western Mexico; continent: America ; waterBody: Pacific ; island: Los Arcos ; country: Mexico; countryCode: MX; stateProvince: Jalisco; municipality: Mismaloya ; locality: Los Arcos Island ; verbatimDepth: 2 m; decimalLatitude: 20.546583; decimalLongitude: -105.286694; Identification : identifiedBy: Gerardo Gongora-Garza , Jesus Angel de Leon-Gonzalez ; Event : eventDate: 26-08-2004; year: 2004; month: 08; day: 26; Record Level : institutionID: UANL, NL-INV-002-05-09; collectionID: UANL; institutionCode: UANL; collectionCode: UANL 8168; ownerInstitutionCode: Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo León Type status: Other material. Occurrence: catalogNumber: UANL 8169 ; individualCount: 1; occurrenceID: BF3D0549-FB5F-5C60-A0B5-553961D8761E; Taxon: phylum: Annelida ; class: Polychaeta ; order: Phyllodocida ; family: Syllidae ; genus: Parasphaerosyllis ; specificEpithet: malimalii; Location : higherGeographyID: Tropical Eastern Pacific ; higherGeography: Western Mexico; continent: America ; waterBody: Pacific ; country: Mexico; countryCode: MX; stateProvince: Nayarit; locality: Fideritas beach ; verbatimDepth: intertidal; decimalLatitude: 21.026917; decimalLongitude: -105.295778; Identification : identifiedBy: Gerardo Gongora-Garza , Jesus Angel de Leon-Gonzalez ; Event : eventDate: 26-08-2004; year: 2004; month: 08; day: 26; Record Level : institutionID: UANL, NL-INV-002-05-09; collectionID: UANL; institutionCode: UANL; collectionCode: UANL 8169; ownerInstitutionCode: Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo León Type status: Other material. Occurrence: catalogNumber: UANL 8170 ; individualCount: 1; occurrenceID: BEE32DC3-B985-5DBD-867F-097B6AB61AF3; Taxon: phylum: Annelida; class: Polychaeta ; order: Phyllodocida ; family: Syllidae ; genus: Parasphaerosyllis ; specificEpithet: malimalii; Location : higherGeographyID: Tropical Eastern Pacific ; higherGeography: Western Mexico; continent: America ; waterBody: Pacific ; country: Mexico; countryCode: MX; stateProvince: Nayarit ; locality: Bajo del Toro ; verbatimDepth: 1.5 m; decimalLatitude: 21.052778; decimalLongitude: -105.300889; Identification: identifiedBy: Gerardo Gongora-Garza , Jesus Angel de Leon-Gonzalez ; Event : eventDate: 26-08-2004; year: 2004; month: 08; day: 26; Record Level : institutionID: UANL, NL-INV-002-05-09; collectionID: UANL; institutionCode: UANL; collectionCode: UANL 8170; ownerInstitutionCode: Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo León

Description

The three specimens studied are incomplete posteriorly, the largest being 9.2 mm long and 0.60 mm wide. Body subcylindrical, flattened ventrally, pale yellowish, without pigmentation pattern, with 82 chaetigers. Prostomium oval, wider than long. Four eyes in a trapezoidal arrangement, the anterior pair larger than posterior one. Three articulated antennae, the middle one with approximately 50 articles, inserted in the posterior part of the prostomium between the basal pair of small eyes. Lateral antennae with 21 articles, inserted very close to the anterior edge of the prostomium. Palps short, sub-triangular, directed slightly towards ventral side, equal to or slightly smaller than the prostomium length, fused basally. No nuchal organs are observed. Peristomium slightly shorter than the first chaetiger, covering a small area of the prostomium. Two pairs of articulated tentacular cirri, the dorsal ones with some 40 articles and the ventral ones with 20. Dorsal cirri of the first chaetiger with 45-50 articles, chaetiger 2 (20-21 articles), chaetiger 3 (28-33 articles), chaetiger 4 (30-31 articles), chaetiger 5 (20-21 articles) and chaetiger 6 (37-39 articles). Alternating long and short anterior dorsal cirri with 38-40 and 23-25 articles, respectively. First bulbous cirrus appears at chaetiger 29, regularly alternating one by one with moniliform cirri (Fig. 6 A). Elongated bulbous cirri with a smooth, non-articulated terminal knob. In the smallest specimen, the first bulbous dorsal cirrus appears on chaetiger 21. Moniliform dorsal cirri of the median region of the body with 20-22 articles. Parapodial lobe sub-conical, truncated, with two ligules, one anterior and one posterior. Ventral cirrus sub-triangular, inserted at the base, approximately half the length of the parapodial lobe. Anterior parapodia with 9-10 bidentate falcigers per bundle (Fig. 6 B). Falcigers with dorso-ventral gradation approximately 2:1. With 5-6 chaetae per fascicle on middle parapodia. One or two pseudosimple chaetae formed by the thickening of the handle and loss of the blade in the dorsal position. Four to five bidentate falcigers with shorter and thicker blades than those of anterior parapodia (Fig. 6 C). Posteriorly, the number of pseudosimple chaetae increases (3-4) (Fig. 6 D) and that of falcigers decreases (1-2). With three aciculae on anterior segments, one of them with a straight tip and the other two with a slightly bent tip. Mid-body parapodia with two aciculae, both with the tip slightly bent and remaining so until the end of the incomplete specimen. Pharynx through 7-8 segments, with anterior medio-dorsal tooth. Approximately the same length as the proventricle, the latter being 32 muscle cell rings.

Diagnosis

Palps fused basally. Peristomium slightly shorter than the first chaetiger, covering a small area of the prostomium. Dorsal cirri from mid-body bulbous with a long distal end, alternating with long and articulate cirri in an irregular pattern (alternated one by one). Falcigerous bidentate with the secondary tooth very small, with pseudosimple setae formed by the thickening of the handle and the loss of the joint in the middle and posterior chaetigers. Pharynx and proventricle nearly the same size.

Distribution

Eastern Tropical Pacific, from Nayarit and Jalisco (Mexico) to Panama.

Ecology

Intertidal, associated with mats of coralline algae fixed to rocks at 2 m depth.

Biology

One of the specimens has a female dicerous stolon in poor condition of which the characteristic features cannot be seen.

Taxon discussion

This constitutes the first record of Parasphaerosyllis malimalii since its establishment. It is now reported from Nayarit and Jalisco (Central Mexican Pacific). Parasphaerosyllis malimalii is the only species within the genus to have pseudosimple chaetae formed by the thickening of the handle and loss of the blade. The specimens studied here have some differences from those originally reported to the Pacific of Panama. The median antenna is larger than original description (approx. 50 articles), the alternating anterior dorsal cirri are also larger than those reported by Capa et al. (2001) (with 38-40 and short with 23-25 articles) and the number of chaetae per bundle in anterior chaetigers is also larger (9-10) than the holotype. These differences are probably due to ontogeny.

Figures

Figure 6. Digital photographs of Parasphaerosyllis malimalii Capa, San Martin and Lopez, 2001 (UANL 8160). A Mid-body segments, showing bulbous and moniliform dorsal cirri; B Falcigers from chaetiger 10; C Falciger and pseudosimple chaeta from middle parapodium; D Pseudosimple chaetae from posterior parapodium. Scale bars: A = 50 µm; B-D = 20 µm.