Polycirrus Grube, 1850

Londoño-Mesa, Mario H., 2009, Terebellidae (Polychaeta: Terebellida) from the Grand Caribbean region 2320, Zootaxa 2320 (1), pp. 1-93 : 19-20

Polycirrus Grube, 1850

Grube, 1850:597.— Hutchings & Glasby, 1986:330.— Hartmann-Schröder, 1996:524. Synonyms: Aphlebina de Quatrefages 1843 nomen oblitum; Torquea Leidy, 1855 ; Apneuma de Quatrefages, 1865 ; Leu-

cariste Malmgren, 1866; Ereutho Malmgren, 1866 ; Cyaxares Kinberg, 1866 ; Dejoces Kinberg, 1867 ; Anisocirrus

Gravier, 1905; Pseudoampharete Hartmann-Schröder, 1960 ; Litancyra Hutchings, 1977 . Type species: Polycirrus medusa Grube, 1850 , by monotypy.

Diagnosis: Tentacular membrane with three lobes; two types of tentacles, both with swollen tips; eyespots absent; ventral shields divided in pairs by mid-ventral groove; notopodia from segment 2 or 3; thorax with variable number of segments with notochaetae; chaetae pinnate, hirsute, smooth-winged or smooth capillaries, but only 1 or 2 types of chaetae per species; neuropodia first present between segments 5–21.

Remarks: Only three species have been described in the Grand Caribbean : Polycirrus pennulifera Verrill, 1900 from Bermuda, P. purpureus Schmarda, 1861 from Jamaica, and P. corallicola Verrill, 1900 from Bermuda, the latter one is indeterminable according to Holthe (1986b). A fourth species, P. holthei Londoño- Mesa & Carrera-Parra, 2005, was recently described from the Mexican Caribbean , and a fifth species, Polycirrus angeli sp. nov. is herein described. Salazar-Vallejo (1996) listed 8 species and one subspecies that have been reported from the Grand Caribbean region, including species originally described from far localities, such as P. eximius ( Leidy, 1855) from New England, P. eximius dubis Day, 1973 , and P. carolinensis Day, 1973 , both from North Carolina. Finally, Verrill (1900) described P.luminosus , from Bermuda, but it was correctly synonymized with P. purpureus by Augener (1925).