A new genus and species of the Syllidae (Annelida, Polychaeta) from south India

A syllid species new to science is described from intertidal sandy sediments on the cast coast of India, for which a new genus is erected: Psammosyllis aliceae gen. et sp.n. Incorporation into either the Eusyllinae or the Exogoninae is unresolved, because it possesses characters of both of these poorly defined subfamilies.     

Interstitial Dorvilleidae (Annelida, Polychaeta) from Europe, Australia and New Zealand

Four dorvilleid species new to science are described from intertidal and subtidal sandy sediments. For three of them new genera are erected: Coralliotrocha natans gen. et sp.n., Microdorvillea otagensis gen. et sp.n. and Pusillotrocha Åkessoni gen. et sp.n. One species represents the first record of the genus Pettiboneia from Australia, P. australiensis sp.n. Ophryotrocha minuta Levi, 1954 redescribed from Helgoland is transferred to a different genus, Arenotrocha gen.n. The present taxa belong to a morphological series of species with an increasing degree of neoteny in the family Dorvilleidae.     

Two new DorvNea species (Polychaeta, Dorvilleidae) with obligate asexuaI reproduction

Two new species, Dorvillea bermudensis sp.n. and D. albomaculata sp.n., with obligate asexual reproduction are described. Both are closely related to sexually reproducing members of the same genus. The new species undergo repeated fission of the architomy type, with the rate of regeneration and subsequent production of segments being positively correlated with the energy content of the fragments. Regeneration and reproductive potentials vary between head and tail fragments with tail lineages producing higher rates than head lineages. Both species are very tolerant of starvation which may cause considerable degrowth and initiation of dispersal behavior.     

Six new species of Protodrilus (Annelida, Polychaeta) from Europe and New Zealand, with a concise presentation of the genus

Protodrilus haurakiensis sp.n., P. jouinae sp.n., P. jägersteni sp.n., P. submersus sp.n. and P. litoralis sp.n. from New Zealand and P. gracilis sp.n. from Europe are described. Protodrilus jägcrsteni, P. submersus and P. litoralis are sibling species. Sperm dimorphism in all species investigated by the author is recorded for the first time in polychaetes. Two of the three so-called 'ecological forms' of P. hypoleucus and P. adhaerens are classified as variations of the type species without a particular taxonomic rank. In a table the partly actualized data of all 30 known Protodrilus species are presented, 8 of which are very insufficiently described. Synonyms in Protodrilus and similarities between P. rubropharyngeus Jägersten and P. flavocapitatus Uljanin are mentioned.     

Description of two new interstitial species of Psammodrilidae (Annelida) from Bermuda

The family Psammodrilidae (Annelida) is a group of small polychaetes hitherto containing three nominal species in Psammodriloides and Psammodrilus. Psammodrilus swedmarki, n. sp. and P. moebjergi, n. sp. are described from subtidal coarse sand in Bermuda. Both new species are interstitial, as is the monotypic Psammodriloides fauveli Swedmark, 1958, which they resemble by their small size and lack of a muscular collar region. However, studies with scanning electron microscopy show that the larger, hermaphroditic P. moebjergi possesses a pair of peristomial dorsolateral non-ciliated areas with hexagonal cells representing those of the characteristic collar region of Psammodrilus. The uncini of both species resemble those of Psammodrilus balanoglossoides Swedmark, 1952. The systematically contradicting characters support a synonymization of the two genera. An emended diagnosis of Psammodrilus and a key to the species are presented.     

Bathysabellaria neocaledoniensis, a new genus and species of Sabellariidae (Annelida, Polychaeta) from bathyal zones off New Caledonia (Southwest Pacific Ocean)

A new genus and species of Sabellariidae is described from deep water off New Caledonia and compared with other sabellariids having four parathoracic segments.     

The Magelonidae (Annelida: Polychaeta) from the Seychelles, with the description of three new species

Three new species of Magelona are described from the Seychelles: M. conversa, M. falcifera and M. gemmata. Magelona conversa belongs to a 'M. mirabilisgroup', having a rounded prostomium and specialised chaetae on chaetiger 9, but differs from all other members in having long prechaetal neuropodial lamellae on chaetigers 1–8. Magelona falcifera bears large sickle-shaped hooded hooks in the abdomen and thus approaches the genus Meredithia, but lacks prostomial horns. Magelona gemmata belongs to a 'M. longicornis group' in having distinct prostomial frontal horns, and a thorax with lanceolate postchaetal lamellae in the notopodia and ventral neuropodial lobes. The distinctively swollen bud-like tips on the notopodial lamellae of chaetiger 9 are an unique feature. The status of MeredithiaHernández-Alcántara & Solís-Weiss, 2000 and current magelonid terminology are discussed.     

Questa (Annelida, Polychaeta, Orbiniidae) from Pacific regions — new species and reassessment of the genus Periquesta

On the basis of new material from various Pacific regions we critically evaluate the characters for the taxonomy of the genus Questa and the former Questidae, a taxon now concluded to be a lineage within the family Orbiniidae. Two new species, Questa retrospermatica sp. n. from Hawaii (with similar forms also from New Caledonia and China), and Questa fijiensis sp. n. from Fiji, are described, and the morphological character patterns and phylogeny of the genus are revisited on the basis of a cladistic analysis. The finding of Hawaiian material of a new species, Levinsenia hawaiiensis sp. n., similar to Periquesta canariensis Brito & Nunez, 2002 (=Levinsenia canariensis comb. n.), challenges the view that Periquesta Brito & Nunez, 2002 is closely related to Questa; rather, it belongs to Paraonidae as a junior synonym of Levinsenia Mesnil, 1897.     

Two new species and a phylogenetic analysis of the genus Tectidrilus (0Iigochaeta, Tubifcidae)

Tectidrilus probus sp.n. and Tectidrilus profusus sp.n. are described from offshore localities in southern California. Both species appear closely related to T. diversus Ersëus, 1982, which occurs in the same area, but they differ from the latter by possessing small oesophageal diverticula; T. probus differs also by its very small spermathecal vestibules. Tectidrilus profusus is a highly apomorphic form with elaborate, partly muscular, male ducts and spermathecae. Monophyly of Tectidrilus is supported by the short clitellum and the unisetal 'bundles' in postclitellar segments. Patterns of apomorphic character states within the genus are analyzed under the principle of Camin-Sokal parsimony (irreversibility of character states), giving three equally parsimonious cladograms. In the strict consensus tree of these cladograms, eight of the twelve members of Tectidrilus form an apomorphic group defined by the papillated body wall, but the individual species within this group cannot be unequivocally resolved from each other.     

A new genus of Syllidae (Polychaeta) from Western Australia

During a study carried out on the subfamily Exogoninae (Syllidae) from Australia, several specimens of a new genus and species were found in samples of dead coral substrate from Western Australia. They have long palps, fused except for a terminal notch, long median and two short lateral antennae, a single pair of short tentacular cirri, and short dorsal cirri, somewhat longer than the parapodial lobes. These characters resemble those of the genus Exogone Örsted, 1845. However, all these appendages are articulated. The chaetae are very similar to those of several species of Syllis Lamarck, 1818, having coarse spines on the margin of compound chaetal blades and truncated dorsal simple chaetae. Furthermore, the pharynx begins in chaetiger 3, posterior to the peristomium, as in many species of the genus Syllis; this condition does not occur in any described species of Exogone. The new genus is provisionally proposed to belong to the subfamily Syllinae, although it has some characters typical of the Exogoninae. Examination under the SEM shows another peculiar feature, the nuchal organs are distinctly laterally located. Within the Syllinae, only Paratyposyllis Hartmann-Schröder, 1962 has a single pair of tentacular cirri, but in that genus, the palps are only basally fused.     

Three new deep-sea species of Sphaerodoridae (Annelida,Polychaeta) from the eastern tropical South Pacific*

Three sphaerodorid species new to science are described from a manganese nodule area in abyssal depths of around 4150 m in the Peru Basin in the eastern South Pacific. Sphaerodoridium campanulata sp. n. is isolated within the genus, having, apart from spherical macrotubercles, additional dorsal stalked bell-shaped papillae, not previously described. Sphaerodoropsis discolis sp. n. is a species with four rows of dorsal macrotubercles and two pairs of lateral antennae. Sphaerodoropsis translucida sp. n. has six to seven rows of dorsal macrotubercles arrayed in two transverse rows per segment and two pairs of lateral antennae. A brief discussion points to the close relationship between Clavodorum and Sphaerodoridium, and to the present state of Sphaerodoropsis, being inhomogeneous in the characters of the arrangement of the dorsal macrotubercles and the numbers of the lateral antennae. An overview on the latter genus, with an attempt to subdivide it, is given.     

A new genus of Platycopioida (Copepoda) from a marine cave on Bermuda

Nanocopia minuta was collected from an inland marine cave on Bermuda. This new genus is reminiscent of Platycopia in its cephalic appendages and in the 5th legs of the male. The 1st leg has a 3-segmented exopod and a 1-segmented endopod. The other legs show reductions with no armature along the inner margin of the exopods and with 2-segmented endopods in the female. Only 2nd and 3rd legs bear two outer spines on the first exopodal segment.Owing to similarities in sexual characters, mouthparts, and modifications of the swimming legs, Nanocopia and Platycopia are considered more closely related to each other than either is to Antrisocopia.Platycopioida now contains three genera of which two are found only in Roadside Cave. The order has retained several primitive characters and seems to have separated early from the gymnoplean stem.     

A new species group in the genus Dichaetophora Duda (Diptera: Drosophilidae) based on a phylogenetic analysis, with descriptions of four new species from China

A new species group, the sinensis group, is established within the genus Dichaetophora, based on a phylogenetic analysis of 37 adult morphological characters from 26 drosophilid species, including ten known species of Dichaetophora; four newly described species (Di. abnormis, Di. hainanensis, Di. bicornis, and Di. sinensis spp. nov. from China); and some representatives of related genera (Drosophila, Hirtodrosophila, and Scaptomyza).     

Spirorbinae (Polychaeta:Serpulidae) from the Red Sea, including descriptions of a new genus and four new species

A new genus, a new subgenus, four new species and four previously described species are recorded from the Red Sea. The new genus Anomalorbis has four and a half thoracic segments. Re-discovery of the sinistral variety of Janua (Dexiospira) steueri confirms Sterzinger's observation that this species may coil in either direction. Janua (Fauveldora) anticorrugata sp. nov. is also sinistral and a shallow water species. It therefore appears that the Red Sea may have been the centre of origin for sinistral mutants of the Janua complex. Other of the new forms live in fairly deep water. The assemblage encountered shows closest affinity with the Indo-Pacific, but suggests a high degree of endemism, which may be related to the high temperatures prevailing at all depths in the Red Sea.     

A new Polygordius (Annelida: Polychaeta) from Terra Nova Bay, Ross Sea, Antarctica

Polygordius antarcticus sp. nov. is described from benthic material collected at depths ranging between 31 and 61 m in Terra Nova Bay, Ross Sea, during the 1987–1988 and 1988–1989 expeditions of the Italian National Research Program in Antarctica. This is the first named species of the genus from Antarctic waters. Although no fully mature specimens were available, the new species appears unique in combining the following features: a regular pygidium, inflated and with a single ring of round adhesive pads, a conical prostomium with short antennae (only half as long as the prostomium) and shallow head fold, and a well-developed circulatory apparatus, with circumoesophageal commissures entering the prostomium and long intersegmental commissures insinuating into the ventrolateral compartments of the trunk. These and other significant features were investigated by light and scanning electron microscopy. In the construction of the head and the scheme of the blood system, the new species resembles Polygordius triestinus Woltereck, described by Hempelmann in 1906, an aberrant species inhabiting muddy, anoxic sediments in the Adriatic Sea, but it differs significantly from it in the shape of the mouth (in P. triestinus the upper lip is hypertrophied and strongly protruding) and the pygidium (in P. triestinus this region is stump-like and non-adhesive). The pygidium of P. antarcticus sp. nov. is encircled by 28–30 small adhesive pads, each with 15–20 glandular openings. Preterminal cirri are lacking, as are perianal appendages. The anus is surrounded by six to seven lobes of which the midventral is largest and longest. A world distribution map of the genus is provided. Accepted: 27 August 1998