Nicolea Malmgren, 1866

Nogueira, João Miguel Matos, Hutchings, Pat & Carrerette, Orlemir, 2015, Terebellidae (Annelida, Terebelliformia) from Lizard Island, Great Barrier Reef, Australia, Zootaxa 4019 (1), pp. 484-576 : 490

Genus Nicolea Malmgren, 1866

Nicolea . — Hutchings & Glasby 1988: 35; Nogueira 2008: 221.

Type-species. Terebella zostericola Örsted, 1844 , designated by Hartman (1959).

Diagnosis. Transverse prostomium attached to dorsal surface of upper lip; basal part frequently with eyespots; distal part shelf-like. Buccal tentacles all similar, longer tentacles shorter than body. Peristomium forming lips; hood-like upper lip, usually as wide as long; small, swollen lower lip, usually restricted to oral area. Segment 1 reduced dorsally, frequently developed ventrally, with ventral lobe marginal to mouth. Lobes on anterior segments absent, except for ventral lobe of segment 1. Paired dorso-lateral arborescent branchiae present on segments 2–3, 2 pairs. Anterior segments with glandular, rectangular to trapezoidal, usually smooth mid-ventral shields; shields extending until termination of notopodia or shortly before that point; mid-ventral groove extending posteriorly from termination of mid-ventral shields. Short and conical notopodia beginning from segment 4, extending for variable number of segments. Notochaetae in both rows distally narrowly-winged. Neuropodia present from segment 5, as low ridges until termination of notopodia, as short pinnules thereafter. Neurochaetae throughout as short-handled avicular uncini, arranged in completely intercalated double rows from segments 9–11 to termination of notopodia. Nephridial and genital papillae usually present on segments 3 and 6–7, in line and posterior to notopodia; genital papillae with sexual dimorphism in several species, females with rounded papillae, males with elongate, digitiform papillae. Pygidium smooth to crenulate ( Nogueira 2008; Santos et al. 2010).

Remarks. As discussed by Santos et al. (2010), Nicolea is a large genus with a worldwide distribution, in which the 30 described species are similar morphologically with regard to the number of pairs of branchiae, segments from which noto- and neuropodia begin, arrangement of the double rows of uncini and general morphology of chaetae, and differ on the number of pairs of notopodia present, the segment where the double rows of uncini begin, and the morphology of genital papillae, as in several species these may vary between males and females.

One species of Nicolea , N. amnis Hutchings & Murray, 1984, was known to occur in Australian waters prior to the present study and has been recorded from Lizard Island ( Hutchings & Glasby 1988), although the type locality is Botany Bay, in NSW. We found two new species among the Lizard Island material, both described herein, and we also consider that N. amnis does not occur in the Lizard region; previous records of this species from Lizard Island ( Hutchings & Glasby 1988) were examined and they belong to N. murrayae n. sp., described below.