Pilargis cholae, Salazar-Vallejo & Harris, 2006

Salazar-Vallejo, Sergio I. & Harris, Leslie H., 2006, Revision of Pilargis de Saint-Joseph, 1899 (Annelida, Polychaeta, Pilargidae), Journal of Natural History 40 (3 - 4), pp. 119-159 : 138-140

Pilargis cholae n. sp.

( Figure 7 )

Pilargis berkeleyae Wolf 1984 , p 29.26–29.28, Figures 29.23–29.24 (non Monro, 1933).

Type material

Gulf of Mexico : Florida , USA: one anterior fragment, holotype (USNM-86958), off Panama City, Florida (29 ° 549590N, 86 ° 049590W), Stat. V-2528, September 1977, 37 m. One complete organism, paratype (USNM-86959), off Cape Sable, Florida (25 ° 179110N, 83 ° 029040W), Stat. 22B, April 1981, 53 m (8 mm long, 1 mm wide, 79 setigers and three asetigers; anterior end is markedly bent over its ventral surface and was left under the coverslip for a long time making it very flattened and difficult to handle) .

Additional material

Northwestern Caribbean Sea : Laguna Nichupte´, Cancun, Quintana Roo, México: paratypes, all twisted: one large specimen ( ECOSUR), Stat. E 5M5, 28 October 1987 ; one large specimen ( ECOSUR), Stat. E6M2, 28 October 1987 ; one large specimen broken in two portions ( ECOSUR), Stat. E7M4, 22 April 1988 ; three specimens slightly damaged ( LACNHM), Stat. E5M7, 28 April 1987 .

Description

Holotype anterior fragment, 25 mm long, 1.8 mm wide, 101 setigers. Verrucae very conspicuous, large capitate ones dorsally, smaller ones ventrally, the latter especially in the anterior region; posterior region almost smooth.

Prostomium completely fused to peristomium; palps biarticulated, damaged. Lateral antennae small, hardly seen because of abundant verrucae, observed in a ventral view of paratype; palps slightly damaged ( Figure 7A ). Two pairs of tentacular cirri, both directed anteriorly, covered with small verrucae.

Parapodia with large fusiform dorsal cirri, abundant large verrucae over the back, smaller ones over the tiny cirrostyles. First setiger with dorsal cirri larger than the one of setiger 2. Anterior parapodia ( Figure 7C ) with large fusiform dorsal cirri, 1.3 times longer than ventral cirri, about four times wider; ventral surface with rounded verrucae, about one-fifth as large as the largest dorsal verrucae. Median and posterior parapodia with larger dorsal cirri ( Figure 7D, E ), about two times as long as ventral cirri, four to five times wider. Ventral surface with tiny verrucae or smooth. Neurosetae include smooth capillaries and limbates, finely spinulose, very slightly bent distally, bidentate.

Posterior end (seen in paratype) with a pygidial bulb, as long as last two asetigers, distally covered by verrucae, in an expansion that projects from a short smooth neck-like portion; two lateroventral anal cirri, right one duplicate, all covered by verrucae ( Figure 7B ). Brain posterior lobes with heavy pigmentation, slightly pass first setiger. Other pigmented masses placed in bases of left parapodium 1, and tentacular cirri.

Discussion

Pilargis cholae n. sp. differs from P. berkeleyae by having abundant large verrucae dorsally, and by lacking any large glandular region in the cirrophore. It rather resembles P. υerrucosa, but cirri development is very different, being massive in P. υerrucosa and more elongate, especially the ventral cirri, in P. cholae n. sp. It differs from P. papillata by lacking 8-shaped verrucae, especially on the base of dorsal cirri. The description by Wolf (1984) is accurate, except that the anal cirri were indicated shorter than what they are.

Etymology

This species is named after M. Soledad Jiménez-Cueto, a former colleague who sampled and processed the material on which this description is mainly based. The specific name is formed after her nickname.

Type locality

Off Panama City, Western coast of Florida, Gulf of Mexico .

Distribution

Restricted to two localities in Western Florida , in soft bottoms in 37–53 m depth, and in shallow (0–1.5 m) seagrass ( Thalassia testudinum ) beds, Laguna Nichupte, Quintana Roo, México .

Figures

Figure 7. Pilargis cholae n. sp., holotype USNM-86958. (A) Anterior end in dorsal view; (B) posterior end in ventral view; (C) right setiger 12 in anterior view; (D) right setiger 90 in anterior view; (E) last right setiger in anterior view (insert: enlargement of a verruca). Scale bars: 225 mm (A); 112 mm (B); 112 mm (C–E).