Spiraserpula karpatensis Pillai & ten Hove, 1994

Bastida-Zavala, Rolando, 2012, Serpula and Spiraserpula (Polychaeta, Serpulidae) from the Tropical Western Atlantic and Gulf of Guinea, ZooKeys 198, pp. 1-23 : 10

Spiraserpula karpatensis Pillai & ten Hove, 1994 Figs 7 E–F 8

Spiraserpula karpatensis Pillai & ten Hove 1994:64-65, Figs 3N, 11 A–K.

Type locality.

Karpata, Bonaire.

Material examined.

Venezuela. One incomplete specimen and one empty tube (UMML 22.1055), RV Pillsbury, cruise 6806, sta. 745, North of Los Roques Islands, 11°58'N, 66°50'W, 10-feet otter trawl, 65 m, July 24, 1968.

Description.

Empty tube larger (Fig. 7E) than occupied one attached to empty tubes of Spiraserpula ypsilon . Tubes sinuous or spiraled, with two internal ridges: mid-dorsal one smooth, mid-ventral one serrated (Fig. 7E). Both tubes white, internal and externally (Fig. 7E). The branchial crown and thorax of incomplete specimen is missing. Abdomen partially transparent, with double packets of gametes in each segment (Fig. 7F).

Distribution.

Eastern Caribbean. Bonaire, Curaçao and Los Roques Islands.

Ecology.

Sublittoral, 65 m. On coral debris. Pillai and ten Hove (1994) recorded the species from depths of 10-30 m. The sample also contained two Spiraserpula species: Spiraserpula ypsilon and Spiraserpula sp., a chaetopterid tube, a lumbrinerid and several empty tubes of serpulids resembling Protula and Vermiliopsis .

Remarks.

Spiraserpula karpatensis resembles Spiraserpula caribensis with regard to the dorsal and ventral ridges (Fig. 7C, E); however, Spiraserpula karpatensis does not possess pinkish tubes unlike Spiraserpula caribensis .