Ficopomatus uschakovi (Pillai, 1960)

(Figures 3, 10 G)

Neopomatus uschakovi Pillai, 1960: 28 –32, Text-figures 10H, 11A–H, 12A-H, plate I, Figs 1–2. Type locality: Panadura River estuary, Madu Ganga estuary at Balapitiya and Ratgama Lake at Dodanduwa, Sri Lanka, on shells, stones, coconut leaves and “fish-kraals” (maybe a type of trap).

Ficopomatus uschakovi . — ten Hove & Weerdenburg 1978: 109–112, Figs 2 a–d, 3a, f–k, 4j–n, r, x–z, jj–mm, yy, 5d (revision); Okolodkov et al. 2007: 40 (as potential exotic species in the Mexican Pacific); de Assis et al. 2008: 51–58, Fig. 2 A–G (Brazil) ; Bastida-Zavala 2009: 530, Figs 1 J–K, 5M (identification key for Tropical America); ten Hove & Kupriyanova 2009: 42 (worldwide serpulid checklist); Liñero-Arana & Díaz-Díaz 2012: 234–237, fig. 1a–j (Venezuela); Bastida-Zavala & García-Madrigal 2012: 48–52, Figs 1 A-E, 2A-I (Chiapas, Mexican Pacific); Arteaga-Flórez et al. 2014: 1–11, Fig. 2 A- F (Colombian Caribbean); Bastida-Zavala et al. 2014: 325–326, Figs 19.1j–k (exotic in the Mexican Pacific).

Material examined. Several empty tubes. Tube white to brown or orange, sometimes covered by a dark film of green microalgae; with small to prominent peristomes, sometimes with low growth rings; lacks longitudinal ridges and alveoli (Fig. 2 K).

Chiapas: UMAR-Poly 708-OH, empty tubes (La Encrucijada Lagoon, sta. 2, on wooden trunk, salinity= 19.39 PSU, August 28, 2014, coll. CPR).

Habitat. Intertidal to 1 m. In coastal lagoons, on mangrove roots and gastropod shells, with salinity range of 19.39–35 PSU (Bastida-Zavala & García-Madrigal 2012). On shells, stones, coconut leaves and fish-kraals (Pillai 1960). Fouling species, at least on PVC plates in the northern Gulf of Mexico (Bastida-Zavala, personal observation).

Distribution. Native to the Indo-West Pacific. Ficopomatus uschakovi was recorded as exotic from the Gulf of Guinea; in Sossego Creek, Brazil; in Morocoto Creek, Venezuela; in La Encrucijada Lagoon, Chiapas; and in Gulf of Urabá, Colombian Caribbean (ten Hove & Weerdenburg 1978; de Assis et al. 2008; Liñero-Arana & Díaz-Díaz 2012; Bastida-Zavala & García-Madrigal 2012; Arteaga-Flórez et al. 2014).

Remarks. Ficopomatus uschakovi was described in the monotypic genus Neopomatus Pillai, 1960, based on a single autapomorphic character: fused thoracic membranes. Ten Hove & Weerdenburg (1978) revised five monotypic genera, including Neopomatus, morphologically rather similar ‒especially regarding the chaetation pattern‒ and occurring in brackish water, and synonymized them with the genus Ficopomatus . The decision to maintain Neopomatus (Pillai 2008; Li et al. 2012) cannot be solved on the basis of morphological characters only, it is necessary to perform a phylogenetic analysis including both morphological and molecular characters (Elena Kupriyanova & Harry ten Hove, pers. comm. 2014).