Sabellaria Lamarck, 1812

Hutchings, Pat, Capa, María & Peart, Rachael, 2012, 3306, Zootaxa 3306, pp. 1-60 : 36

Sabellaria Lamarck, 1812

Sabellaria Lamarck, 1812: 96 ; Kirtley, 1994: 45–46; Nishi et al., 2010: 7 ; Capa et al., 2012: 268–269 .

Type species. Sabella alveolata Linnaeus, 1767 , by monotypy.

Type locality. Europe, Hartman (1959).

Diagnosis. Operculum completely divided in two symmetrical lobes, inner paleae arranged in two rows (with mid and inner paleae) and three parathoracic segments.

Remarks. The monophyly of Sabellaria has not being assessed in the phylogenetic analysis undertaken by Capa et al. (2012) and the above diagnosis includes characters that are shared by all species in the genus. The total number of species of Sabellaria described to date (including those in Nishi et al. 2010, Santos et al. 2011 and herein) are 39. Features such as the shape and ornamentation of paleae and nuchal spines (as in Nishi et al. 2010, Santos et al. 2011) together with some others have been used for the comparison of the species herein (Table 4).

According to Kirtley (1994), all species within the genus are gregarious and capable of forming large colonies and reefs along shores where suitable hydrodynamic and sedimentary conditions occur but the new species described below are known from only a few solitary individuals.

First record of the genus in Australian waters.