Harmothoe Kinberg, 1856

Barnich, Ruth & Fiege, Dieter, 2010, On the distinction of Harmothoe globifera (G. O. Sars, 1873) and some other easily confused polynoids in the NE Atlantic, with the description of a new species of Acanthicolepis Norman in McIntosh, 1900 (Polychaeta, Polynoidae), Zootaxa 2525, pp. 1-18 : 2

Harmothoe Kinberg, 1856

Type species. Harmothoe spinosa Kinberg, 1856

Diagnosis. Body dorsoventrally flattened, short, with up to 50 segments; dorsum more or less covered by elytra or short posterior region uncovered. Fifteen pairs of elytra on segments 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19, 21, 23, 26, 29, and 32. Prostomium with distinct cephalic peaks and three antennae; lateral antennae inserted ventrally to median antenna. Position of anterior pair of eyes variable, posterior pair dorsal near hind margin. Parapodia with elongate acicular lobes with both acicula penetrating epidermis; neuropodia with a supraacicular process. Notochaetae stout with distinct rows of spines and blunt tip. Neurochaetae more numerous, usually more slender, with distinct rows of spines distally and tips either all bidentate with a subdistal secondary tooth or some bi- and some unidentate.