A new species of Exogone Ørsted, 1845 (Annelida: Syllidae: Exogoninae) from Brazilian waters

We describe herein a new species of the abundant polychaete family Syllidae, Exogone brasiliensis sp. nov. The new species is characterized by a peculiar morphology of anterior body falcigers, with shafts and blades modified specially in chaetigers 1 and 2; falcigers until chaetiger 5 different from those of the rest of the body; and dorsal simple chaetae from midbody onwards unique in the genus, nearly straight, subdistally swollen in one side only, distally rounded. Exogone brasiliensis sp. nov. is described based on detailed morphological analyses under optical and scanning electron microscopes, and compared to its most similar congeners.

Two new species of Notodasus Fauchald, 1972 (Annelida: Capitellidae) from the Central Indo-Pacific region

Notodasus Fauchald, 1972 is a small genus of the polychaete family Capitellidae, including 10 described species worldwide. The genus is unusual in the Central Indo-Pacific, and there is no taxonomic record of Notodasus in this region. In this study, two new species of Notodasus are described and illustrated, namely Notodasus celebensis sp. nov. and N. chinensis sp. nov. The former species, collected from the mixed-species seagrass beds in the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, is mainly characterized by the longitudinally striated epithelium on thoracic segments and the completely separated notopodial lobes. The latter species, obtained from coastal waters off southern China, differs from its congeners with the following characters: tessellated epithelium present on anterior thorax as well as on the dorsum of chaetigers 11 and 12, notopodial lobes fused and chaetal fascicles almost touching each other on anterior abdomen, and branchial pores evident from anterior abdomen. Comparisons are made with closely related species in this paper, and a revised key is provided to all described Notodasus species. The descriptions of the two new species represent the first record of Notodasus in this region and expand the geographical distribution of the genus.

Syllidae (Annelida: Phyllodocida) from the deep Mediterranean Sea, with the description of three new species

Despite almost two centuries of research, the diversity of Mediterranean deep-sea environments remain still largely unexplored. This is particularly true for the polychaete family Syllidae. We report herein 14 species; among them, we describe Erinaceusyllis barbarae n. sp., Exogone sophiae n. sp. and Prosphaerosyllis danovaroi n. sp. and report Parexogone wolfi San Martín, 1991, Exogone lopezi San Martín, Ceberio & Aguirrezabalaga, 1996 and Anguillosyllis Day, 1963 for the first time from the Western Mediterranean, the latter based on a single individual likely belonging to an undescribed species. Moreover, we re-establish Syllis profunda Cognetti, 1955 based on type and new material. Present data, along with a critical analysis of available literature, show that Syllidae are highly diverse in deep Mediterranean environments, even though they are rarely reported, probably due to the scarce number of studies devoted to the size-fraction of benthos including deep-sea syllids. Most deep-sea Syllidae have wide distributions, which do not include shallow-waters. 100 m depth apparently represents the boundary between the assemblages dominated by generalist shallow water syllids like Exogone naidina Ørsted, 1843 and Syllis parapari San Martín & López, 2000, and those deep-water assemblages characterised by strictly deep-water species like Parexogone campoyi San Martín, Ceberio & Aguirrezabalaga, 1996, Parexogone wolfi San Martín, 1991 and Syllis sp. 1 (= Langerhansia caeca Katzmann, 1973).

Lacydoniidae Bergström, 1914 (Polychaeta) in the South Atlantic: morphology, three new species and five new records

LacydoniaMarion & Bobretzky in Marion, 1874 is the only known genus in Lacydoniidae Bergström, 1914, which is composed of small polychaetes scarcely sampled. Studies on the biology and ecology of this group are rare and most species descriptions are based on one or a few specimens. There are 13 nominal species from different parts of the world. We revise herein the morphological characters used for species description on the basis of a lacydoniid assemblage collected in Campos Basin, Southern Brazil. Material was obtained in two sampling campaigns during the Project Habitats/Petrobras – Heterogeneidade Ambiental da Bacia de Campos, coordinated by CENPES/Petrobras. Lacydoniids were collected from the continental shelf, canyons and slope, at depths from 25 to 2500 m. This polychaete family is recorded for the first time in Brazilian waters, three new species are described and all others are new records to the South Atlantic. The new species areLacydonia anapaulaesp. nov.,L. brasiliensissp. nov. andL. jackisp. nov. Newly recorded species areL. cirrata(Hartman & Fauchald, 1971),L. laureciLaubier, 1975,L. mirandaMarion & Bobretzky in Marion, 1874,L. oculata(Hartman, 1967) andL. cf.papillataUschakov, 1958. An updated key to all described species ofLacydoniais included.

A new fouling Hydroides (Annelida, Sabellida, Serpulidae) from southern Gulf of California

Members of the tubicolous polychaete family Serpulidae constitute one of the most important groups of marine fouling biota. This paper describes a new species of the serpulid genusHydroidesfrom dock fouling at Mazatlán (southern Gulf of California), providing information about live colouration and reproductive features.Hydroides dolabrussp. nov. belongs to a subgroup of species in which verticil spines are equal in size and shape, lack both external and lateral spinules, but have various modifications to their tips. However,Hydroides dolabrussp. nov. is distinct in having tips of verticil spines pickaxe-shaped, with asymmetrical triangular radially orientated projections: the internal projections are short and point inward the verticil centre, while longer external projections point outward the verticil centre. Like all species of the genus,H. dolabrussp. nov. is a gonochoristic broadcast spawner lacking sexual dimorphism. A phylogenetic analysis of Hydroides based on COI, 18S and cytbsequence data reveals thatH. dolabrussp. nov. is genetically distinct from other species ofHydroidesfor which sequence data are available. The new species is the 11th in the genus described from Mexican waters.

Sabellidae and Fabriciidae (Polychaeta) of the Adriatic Sea with particular retrospect to the Northern Adriatic and the description of two new species

Sabellidae is the second most diverse polychaete family in the Adriatic Sea, after Syllidae. Herein we report the updated list of the Sabellidae and Fabriciidae families in the Adriatic Sea deriving both from literature data and presently conducted researches in the northern Adriatic. During these researches polychaetes were sampled from three offshore soft-bottom and three coastal rocky shore stations. Among the analysed material three Sabellidae species are new records for the Adriatic fauna, while four Sabellidae and one Fabriciidae species were recorded for the first time in the northern part. Two new species were found and described: Amphicorina rovignensis spec. nov. and Megalomma pseudogesae spec. nov. These findings increase the number of Sabellidae taxa recorded in the northern Adriatic from 29 to 38. Our results point out the lack of the recent taxonomic studies in the area, but might also indicate the widening of the species areal. Taking into consideration that studies on only six stations raised the number of known sabellid taxa from the area by 31%, our results support the need for the regular taxonomic updating of the polychaete fauna in the northern Adriatic.

A record of the genus Trochochaeta (Polychaeta) in the southern hemisphere with description of a new species

The small polychaete family Trochochaetidae is monogeneric and had been recorded almost exclusively in the northern hemisphere before this study. During a benthic investigation in the coastal shelf zone off Angola at 15°S several specimens were collected from 84 m depth differing from other members of the family and we described it as a new species herein. The only known African species so far was Trochochaeta kirkegaardi from the eastern Atlantic. Trochochaeta ankeae sp. nov. is characterized by having four minute eyes, a small conical antenna, a nuchal crest projecting through chaetiger 2, by lacking notochaetae on chaetiger 2, by having acicular spines on neuropodia 2 and 3 and a pair of conical papillae ventral on abdomen. A key to all 11 known species (including an unnamed one) is given.

A review of characters useful in delineating ampharetid genera (Polychaeta)

The polychaete family Ampharetidae currently contains many monotypic genera. The usefulness of various characters is assessed in order to provide a more coherent framework on which to base the classification of the family.

New Polygordiidae (Polychaeta) from the Australian region

The interstitial polychaete family Polygordiidae is recorded from Australia for the first time, based on two new species: Polygordius arafura sp. nov. from continental shelf depths in the Arafura Sea, northern Australia, and Polygordius kiarama sp. nov. from the continental shelf and slope off southeastern Australia. Polygordius kiarama sp. nov., found at slope depths up to 1650 m, is the deepest record to date for the family, which has previously been recorded from intertidal habitats, shallow coastal waters and continental shelf depths.