Eunice cf. afra Peters, 1854

Zanol, Joana, Hutchings, Pat A. & Fauchald, Kristian, 2020, Eunice sensu latu (Annelida: Eunicidae) from Australia: description of seven new species and comments on previously reported species of the genera Eunice, Leodice and Nicidion, Zootaxa 4748 (1), pp. 1-43 : 3-4

Eunice cf. afra Peters, 1854

Eunice afra Peters, 1854: 611 .— Monro 1931: 21.— Day 1975: 194.— Day & Hutchings 1979: 114.— Fauchald 1992: 47. Eunice afra paupera Day, 1975: 194 (not Eunice paupera Grube, 1878 , see below).

Material examined. Queensland. North East Cay, Herald Group, Coral Sea, dead coral washings, coll. J.C. Yaldwyn & D.F. McMichael, 09 Nov 1964, AM W.197072 (1). Lizard Island , 14°40’S, 145°28’E, coll. P. Hutchings, 1975, AM W.197127 (l), AM W.197129 (l), AM W.197130 (l). Low Isles , Great Barrier Reef, British Great Barrier Reef Expedition (Oct 1931), AM W.2944 (l). Rat Island , Port Curtis, between tidemarks, coll. M. Ward & W. Boardman, Mar 1930, AM W.2749 (l). North West Island , coral, coll. E.F. Hallmann, Aug 1910, AM W.220 (2), AM W.223 (l), AM W.237 (l), AM W.242 (l). New South Wales. 2.3 km east of Malabar, 33°59.27’S, 150º16.48’E, 66 m depth, dredge, coll. Shelf Benthic Survey, 04 Dec 1973, AM W.6229 (l). Western Australia. Rottnest Island or Point Peron, coll. Dept of Zoology, University of Western Australia, AM W.3702 (l), AM W.3703 (l), AM W.3705 (l).

Remarks. Eunice afra has been widely reported from warm water areas; the type, from Mozambique was redescribed by Fauchald (1992). It is uncertain how much of the material previously reported from the Pacific and Indian Oceans, including the coasts of Australia, belong to this species. Specimens in the collections of the Australian Museum agree with E. afra (sensu Fauchald 1992) in having dark bidentate subacicular hooks and branchiae starting posterior to chaetiger 10. All specimens examined have short, irregularly articulated antennae and palps. However, the variability, especially in the first occurrence of branchiae and subacicular hooks in similarly sized specimens is so high that it is likely that more than one species is present. According to our observations, none of them agree fully with the holotype of E. afra . Resolution of the problems related to this species will depend on a careful study of a large amount of circumtropical material and is well beyond the scope of this study. Day (1975: 194) reported both E. afra and E. afra paupera Grube, 1878 present in material from Western Australia. He had available only juveniles with single branchial filaments and would not have been able to separate the two, which traditionally have been separated only on the number of branchial filaments present. Eunice paupera is here considered a distinct species differing from E. afra in adult chaetal characters as well as in the structure of the branchiae (see Fauchald 1992).

Type locality. Ibo , Mozambique .