Lagis Malmgren, 1866

Hutchings, P. & Peart, R., 2002, A Review of the Genera of Pectinariidae (Polychaeta) Together with a Description of the Australian Fauna, Records of the Australian Museum 54, pp. 99-127 : 109

Lagis Malmgren, 1866

Tables 3, 6

Lagis Malmgren, 1866: 360 .– Fauchald, 1977: 120.– Holthe, 1986: 18.

Diagnosis. Rim of cephalic veil with numerous long cirri, at least partially fused to operculum. Cephalic veil semicircular, covering the bases of numerous peristomial palps. Raised opercular margin smooth. Chaetigers 1 to 3 (segments 5 to 7) with notopodia and notochaetae only, chaetigers 4 to 15 biramous with notopodia, notochaetae, neuropodia and neurochaetae, chaetiger 16 with notopodia and notochaetae only (16/12). Notochaetae all smooth capillaries. Neurochaetal uncini with major teeth arranged in two or more rows. Posterior 5 segments fused, forming flattened plate or scaphe, [as for Cistenides ] and distinctly separated from the abdomen.

Type species. Lagis koreni Malmgren, 1866 , by original designation.

Remarks. The genus has not been recorded from Australian waters, although L. australis ( Ehlers, 1904) was described from New Zealand. We have examined material from the type locality and used this to complete the entry for this species in Table 3. The major diagnostic characters of the species assigned to this genus are given in Table 3. Currently ten species are known. Characters such as the number of cirri on the cephalic veil, numbers and types of paleae and scaphal hooks, as well as the numbers of rows of teeth on the uncini are used to distinguish species. However, as is clear from Table 3, some of these diagnostic characters exhibit ranges, which may make the separation of species difficult, although species appear to have non-overlapping geographical distributions. Five species are known only from type material. We have reassigned Pectinaria bocki Hessle, 1917 to this genus because the uncini have four rows of teeth.

Species of this genus have been reported from many localities around the world.