Erinaceusyllis centroamericana (Hartmann-Schröder, 1959), Guillermo San Martin, 2005

Guillermo San Martin, 2005, Exogoninae (Polychaeta: Syllidae) from Australia With the Description of a New Genus and Twenty-two New Species, Records of the Australian Museum 57, pp. 39-152 : 78-79

Erinaceusyllis centroamericana (Hartmann-Schröder, 1959) n.comb.

Fig. 33A–D

Sphaerosyllis centroamericana Hartmann-Schröder, 1959: 127 , figs. 79–82; 1965a: 117; 1974a: 135, pl. 13, figs. 120–122; 1977: 58, fig. 20; 1979: 102; 1980a: 54; 1980b: 395; 1981: 36; 1986: 42; 1990: 54. Westheide, 1974: 101, figs. 45, 46 D, E.

Material examined. AUSTRALIA: WESTERN AUSTRALIA.1 specimen, HZM P-16696, Broome, G. Hartmann-Schröder.

Additional material. EL SALVADOR: 6 specimens, HZM P-14610 G. Hartmann-Schröder.

Description. Body small to minute, up to 2 mm long, 0.16 mm wide, 21 chaetigers, covered with small, scattered papillae ( Fig. 33A ). Prostomium oval to trapezoidal; 4 small eyes in rectangular arrangement, and 2 anterior eyespots, close to anterior eyes, similar in size to eyes ( Fig. 33A ); antennae pyriform, with bulbous bases and short tips, all similar in size, shorter than prostomium, inserted nearly in line, in front of anterior eyes and eyespots. Palps short, fused along their length. Peristomium long, covering dorsally more than posterior half of prostomium ( Fig. 33A ); tentacular cirri similar to antennae. Dorsal cirri similar to antennae, with bulbous bases and short tips, slightly elongate on midbody, absent on chaetiger 2 ( Fig. 33A ). Compound chaetae heterogomph, similar throughout; blades slender, elongate, unidentate, distally slightly hooked, provided with proportionally long marginal spines on bases of longer blades ( Fig. 33C ); parapodia each with 1 compound chaeta with long blade, about 36 µm on midbody, and 6 compound chaetae with dorsoventral gradation, 25–15 µm long ( Fig. 33C ). Dorsal simple chaetae from chaetiger 1, unidentate, provided with short marginal spines ( Fig. 33B ). Ventral simple chaetae slender, smooth, present on posterior parapodia (fide Westheide, 1974), not seen in the examined specimens. Acicula solitary, acuminate ( Fig. 33D ). Pharynx proportionally long and slender, through 3–4 segments; pharyngeal tooth small, located near opening ( Fig. 33A ). Proventricle barrel-shaped, through 2–3 segments, with about 15–20 muscle cell rows. Pygidium small, with two anal cirri similar to dorsal cirri but distinctly longer.

Remarks. Erinaceusyllis renaudae Hartmann-Schröder, 1958 , from Cuba and Bahamas, is similar but lacks eyes and has a shorter proventricle (Hartmann-Schröder, 1958; 1973).

Distribution. Circumtropical: El Salvador, Galápagos Islands, Caribbean Sea, Hawaii, Samoa, Angola, Mozambique, Tanzania. Australia (Western Australia, South Australia, Queensland).

Habitat. On sand, algae and mangroves. Intertidal.

Figures

Fig. 33. Erinaceusyllis centroamericana. (A) anterior end, dorsal view (median antenna missing). (B) dorsal simple chaeta. (C) compound chaetae. (D) acicula. Scale A: 0.9 mm, B–D: 20 µm.