Vermiliopsis Saint-Joseph, 1894

Kupriyanova, Elena K., Sun, Yanan, Ten Hove, Harry A., Wong, Eunice & Rouse, Greg W., 2015, Serpulidae (Annelida) of Lizard Island, Great Barrier Reef, Australia, Zootaxa 4019 (1), pp. 275-353 : 339-340

Genus Vermiliopsis Saint-Joseph, 1894

Type-species. Vermilia multivaricosa Mörch, 1863 , new name for Vermilia infundibulum sensu Philippi, 1844

Diagnosis. (from ten Hove & Kupriyanova 2009). Tube white, opaque, circular to sub-quadrangular in crosssection; generally with 3–7 longitudinal keels and peristomes. Granular overlay absent. Operculum an inverse conical ampulla, with flat to conical chitinous endplate, sometimes a partitioned cap. Peduncle wrinkled, cylindrical, separated from opercular ampulla by a constriction; without distal wings, but a proximal wing may be present. Peduncle ontogenetically formed from second dorsal radiole on one side, but in adults at base of branchial crown covering 3–6 normal radioles. Pseudoperculum generally absent (but present as under-developed second radiole in V. striaticeps ). Radioles arranged in (semi-)circles, up to 20 per lobe. Inter-radiolar membrane absent.

Branchial eyes (single pigmented ocelli) along dorsal side of rhachis. Stylodes absent. Mouth palps may be present. 7 thoracic chaetigerous segments present. Collar trilobed, tonguelets absent. Thoracic membranes short, continuing to 3rd–5th thoracic chaetiger. Collar chaetae limbate. Apomatus chaetae present. Thoracic uncini saw-shaped with up to 10–15 teeth above blunt indented peg. Triangular depression present. Abdominal chaetae flat narrow geniculate, with a more or less crenulated edge (rounded teeth) to the blade. Abdominal uncini rasp-shaped, anterior peg blunt. Achaetous anterior abdominal zone absent. Long posterior capillary chaetae present. Posterior glandular pad present.

Remarks. The genus Vermiliopsis is ill-defined, and designation of a neotype is unavoidable. The binomen Vermiliopsis infundibulum generally has been used for Mediterranean-Lusitanian forms, and only rarely for Indo- Pacific forms which normally have been identified as Vermiliopsis glandigera /us Gravier, 1906a or Vermilia / Vermiliopsis pygidialis Willey, 1905 . More extensive discussions on the taxonomic problems in this group have been given by ten Hove (1975: 55–59), ten Hove & Kupriyanova (2009: 100–101), Pillai (2009: 104–109), and Ben-Eliahu & ten Hove (2011: 95–96). Pillai (2009) added yet another name ( V. cylindindrica Pillai, 2009 ) from Western Australia to the number of available names, based on the fact that this material had a cylindrical operculum, which should be “domeshaped or conical in the other known species of Vermiliopsis ”. However, such cylindrical opercula have been reported in the literature for other nominal taxa in the complex as well (e.g., Augener 1906 fig. 154 for his nominal species V. annulituba from the Caribbean; Saint-Joseph 1894 pl. 5 fig. 116, Bianchi 1981 fig. 1; 1981 fig. 25h for V. infundibulum ( Philippi, 1844) from the Mediterranean; Imajima 1976b fig. 11a, f; Fiege & Sun 1999 fig. 21C, D; Sun & Yang 2001a fig. 12C for V. infundibulum / glandigera from the Indo- West Pacific), thus the validity of Pillai’s new species should be checked. He, however, attributed most of his other material (and many other Indo-West Pacific records) of Vermiliopsis to V. glandigera Gravier, 1906a . See further remarks on the Vermiliopsis glandigera /pygidialis- complex below. We only have given some well illustrated literature records, as well as Australian references.