Proceraea madeirensis Nygren, 2004

Nygren, Arne, Sundkvist, Tobias, Mikac, Barbara & Pleijel, Fredrik, 2010, Two new and two poorly known autolytines (Polychaeta: Syllidae) from Madeira and the Mediterranean Sea, Zootaxa 2640, pp. 35-52 : 45-47

Proceraea madeirensis Nygren, 2004

( Figs 3 B, D, 5C–E)

Procereaea fasciata Langerhans, 1879: 581 , fig. 33A–C Junior homonym of Nereis fasciata Bosc, 1802 .? Autolytus (Proceraea) fasciata Augener 1913: 264 –265.

? Proceraea fasciata Westheide 1974: 323 –325, figs 61–62; Hartmann-Schröder 1987: 44 –45, figs 20–22. Proceraea madeirensis nom. n. Nygren, 2004: 56 –57, fig. 15A–B.

Material examined. Holotype. Madeira, NHMW 2512. Other material. NW Madeira, East of Porto Moniz, 32°51.664'N 17°09.105'W, balanids with hydroids, SCUBA, 30 Sept 2009, one specimen preserved in formalin ( GNM Polychaeta 13207a), rear end preserved in alcohol ( GNM Polychaeta 13207b); Madeira, Funchal, 32°38.130'N 16°55.815'W, 5–15 m, rocks with Lithothamnion , SCUBA, 21–25 Sep 2009, four specimens preserved in alcohol ( GNM Polychaeta 13208–13211), two specimens preserved on slides ( GNM Polychaeta 13212, 13213), rear ends preserved in alcohol, used up for DNA extraction.

Diagnosis. Proceraea with brown segmental bands; antennae, dorsal tentacular cirri, and dorsal cirri brown.

Description. Length 3.6–11 mm for 41–56 chaetigers, width at level of proventricle, excluding parapodial lobes, 0.2–0.3 mm. Live specimens with broad brown segmental bands on every segment, antennae, dorsal tentacular cirri and first dorsal cirri brown ( Fig. 3 B, D). Body shape, excluding parapodial lobes, cylindrical in transection, ventrally flattened. Body fairly constant in width, with tapering posterior end. Ciliation on nuchal epaulettes. Prostomium rounded rectangular. Four eyes with lenses, anterior pair larger, confluent in dorsal view ( Fig. 3 D); eye spots absent. Palps in dorsal view projecting c. 1/4 of prostomial length, fused. Nuchal epaulettes extending to middle of chaetiger 1 ( Fig. 3 D). Prostomium with three antennae; median antenna inserted medially on prostomium, lateral antennae on anterior margin. Tentacular cirri two pairs. Median antenna reaching chaetiger 14–15. Lateral antennae and dorsal tentacular cirri, c. half as long as median antenna. First dorsal cirri, c. 2/3 as long as median antenna, ventral tentacular cirri and second dorsal cirri c. 1/ 3 as long as dorsal tentacular cirri. Alternation in direction of cirri not assessed due to observational difficulties. From chaetiger 3, all cirri equally long, 1/4–1/3 as long as body width. Cirrophores on tentacular segment and first dorsal cirri, otherwise absent. All appendages cylindrical. Parapodial lobes small, rounded conical. Aciculae 1–3 in anterior chaetigers, 1 or 2 in median and posterior chaetigers. Chaetal fascicle with 6–9 compound chaetae in anterior chaetigers, 3–6 in median and posterior chaetigers. Compound chaetae in anterior 10–15 chaetigers with small distal tooth, then larger but still smaller than subdistal one ( Fig. 5 C, D); blade serrated. Single thick bayonet chaetae ( Fig. 5 C) beginning on chaetiger 4–15. Pharynx with single sinuation anterior to proventricle ( Fig. 3 D). Trepan in chaetiger 3, with 18 uneuqal teeth in two rings, alternating 9 large with 9 smaller ( Fig. 5 E). Basal ring present, infradental spines absent. Proventricle as long as 4–5 segments, in chaetiger 6–12 ( Fig. 3 D), with 55–60 rows of muscle cells. Anal cirri as long as c. half body width.

Reproduction. Unknown.

Habitat. Among hydroids on balanids, rocks with Lithothamnion and epifauna.

Distribution. Only known from Madeira.

Intraspecific genetic variation. No genetic variation was found in the two sequenced specimens.

Remarks. As discussed in Nygren (2004) the identity of Augener’s (1913), Westheide’s (1974) and Hartmann-Schröder’s (1987) specimens as P. madeirensis is doubtful as Langerhans’ holotype lacks the unidentate chaetae mentioned by these authors, and these chaetae are not present in the newly collected specimens in our study. According to our molecular data, P. madeirensis is the most basal taxon in Procerini among the sequenced taxa. As discussed above we believe new generic names should be introduced in order to keep Proceraea monophyletic. However we decided to postpone this awaiting more data and better taxon sampling. If a new generic name is introduced for P. madeirensis , then the original species epithet would be valid, as the homonomy with P. fasciata ( Bosc, 1802) would cease.

Figures

FIGURE 3. Proceraea albocephala, new species. A. Holotype, dorsal view. C. Holotype, lateral view, anterior end. Proceraea madeirensis (GNM Polychaeta 13211) B. Dorsal view, complete specimen. D. Dorsal view, anterior end. Scale lines A, B 1 mm, and C, D 0.1 mm.

FIGURE 5. Proceraea albocephala, new species. A. Holotype, compound chaetae and bayonet chaeta, chaetiger 10. B. Trepan, dorsal view (spm 5). Proceraea madeirensis. C. Compound chaetae and bayonet chaeta, chaetiger 12 (spm 2). D. Compound chaetae, chaetiger 30 (spm 2). E. Trepan, dorsal view (spm 1). Myrianida longoprimicirrata. F. Compound chaetae, chaetiger 20 (spm 5). G. Bayonet chaeta, chaetiger 25 (spm 5). H. Trepan, dorsal view (spm 3). Scale lines A – H 0.1 mm.