Nereiphylla de Blainville 1828
- Dataset
- New species of hesionid and phyllodocid polychaetes (Annelida, Errantia) from Clipperton Island
- Rank
- GENUS
Classification
- kingdom
- Animalia
- phylum
- Annelida
- class
- Polychaeta
- order
- Phyllodocida
- family
- Phyllodocidae
- genus
- Nereiphylla
diagnosis
DIAGNOSIS (modified after Pleijel 1991). — Phyllodocids with prostomium oval, with two oblong tapered lateral antennae; without median antenna or nuchal papilla. Nuchal organs not projected posteriorly. Four pairs of tentacular cirri, all cirriform, usually medially wider. Median segments with dorsal cirri cordate to oval, without aciculae. Ventral cirri oblique to neurochaetal lobes. Acicular lobes of similar size. Neurochaetal shafts with long marginal denticles. Anal cirri basally wider. Pharyngeal surface with diffuse round papillae.
discussion
REMARKS Many authors preferred to use the junior synonym, Genetyllis Malmgren, 1867, over Nereiphylla. Among these authors is Day (1967), whereas others used first the older (Fauvel 1923) and later the younger names (Fauvel 1953). Some other authors regarded both genera as valid (Bergström 1914; Hartman 1959), being separated by having cylindrical versus depressed tentacular cirri. Pleijel (1991: 235) noted tentacular cirri are flatter in larger specimens of both genera and concluded they could not be kept separate on this single difference and regarded them as synonyms. For the key to species, the lists available in WoRMS (Read & Fauchald 2020 a, b) were adjusted mostly after Pleijel (1991).
discussion
REMARKS Nereiphylla albovittata Grube, 1860 from the Adriatic Sea has not been found again, and it could not be incorporated in the key, but it can be keyed out by using keys in Fauvel (1923). Nereiphylla oculata (M’Intosh, 1885), described with hesitation as belonging in Genetyllis, from the Celebes Sea, does not belong in Nereiphylla. The specimen was slightly dried-out when McIntosh studied it, and he indicated it had several unique features. For example, the eyes resemble those present in alciopins, the tentacular cirri are displaced anteriorly and dorsally, such that they are arranged transverse to body length axis, and he also indicated the body wall differs from what is seen in other phyllodocids. Chaetae are compound falcigers, but nothing else could be indicative for its generic placement, and if its prostomial and tentacular cirri features are corroborated, it might represent an unknown group of bathypelagic polychaetes. The anterior end of the single specimen was subjected to histological sectioning for illustrating fine details of eyes, although it was referred to as N. lutea (Malmgren, 1865) in the following page with a contribution by Marcus Gunn on the eyes and cephalic ganglion. In any case, being it a confusion of the species name, or a detailed study based on the Scandinavian species, fresh specimens from the Celebes Sea are needed to clarify its affinities.
distribution
DISTRIBUTION. — The species of Nereiphylla have been described from tropical, temperate and polar localities throughout the world, mostly in shallow water.
type_taxon
TYPE SPECIES. — Nereiphylla paretti de Blainville, 1828, by subsequent designation (Bergström 1914: 102, 163).
Name
- Synonyms
- Genetyllis Malmgren 1865
- Homonyms
- Nereiphylla de Blainville 1828