Polycirridae Nogueira, Fitzhugh & Hutchings, 2013

Glasby, Christopher J. & Hutchings, Pat, 2014, Revision of the taxonomy of Polycirrus Grube, 1850 (Annelida: Terebellida: Polycirridae), Zootaxa 3877 (1), pp. 1-117 : 13-14

Family Polycirridae Nogueira, Fitzhugh & Hutchings, 2013

Polycirrinae Malmgren, 1866: 390 .

Polycirrinae Hessle, 1917: 219 .

Polycirridae Nogueira, Fitzhugh & Hutchings, 2013: 235–236 .

Diagnosis. Abranchiate Terebellida ; expanded circular upper lip that may be folded into three lobes (= trilobed or trefoiled) carrying two or three types of tentacles; segment 2 distinctly narrower than adjacent segments; paired ventro-lateral pads (= shields) present.

Remarks. The subfamily Polycirrinae was erected by Malmgren (1866) to include Polycirrus Grube, 1850 and four other genera described by him in the same paper: Amaea (now Amaeana ), Ereutho , Leucariste , and Lysilla . Since then Hauchiella Levinsen, 1893 , Enoplobranchus Webster, 1879 , and Biremis Polloni et al., 1973 have been added to the subfamily ( Webster 1879; Hessle 1917). Today, six of the eight genera are still recognised, with Ereutho and Leucariste having been relegated to synonymy with Polycirrus ( Hessle 1917; Holthe 1986b:146). The subfamily was elevated to family level in the cladistic analysis of terebellomorphs by Nogueira et al. (2013).

Polycirrinae was found to be monophyletic by Glasby et al. (2004), supported by four synapomorphies, viz. loss of branchiae; trilobed upper lip; secondary notochaetae pinnate (some taxa only); and anterior venter with prominent paired lateral pads. Garraffoni & Lana (2008) also found in favour of a monophyletic Polycirridae with two synapomorphies that were essentially the same as the earlier study (prostomium with lateral expansion and ventral pads lower than the lateral pad), and two new ones (shape of the adult uncini and tube absent). In the most recent cladistic analysis of the group, Nogueira et al. (2013) confirmed the family’s monophyly and the presence of paired ventral shields as an unequivocal synapomorphy. The only other unequivocal synapomorphy in their dataset was segment 2 being distinctly narrower than adjacent segments.