Armandia aff. dolio Parapar & Moreira, 2015

Parapar, Julio, Al-Kandari, Manal & Moreira, Juan, 2025, The genus Armandia Filippi, 1861 (Annelida, Opheliidae) on the coast of Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, Zootaxa 5728 (1), pp. 107-143 : 116-117

Armandia aff. dolio Parapar & Moreira, 2015

Figures 1 , 7 , 12 ; Table 1

Armandia dolio Parapar & Moreira, 2015: 582-585 , figs 1B, 2C, 4, 5, 18B.

Material examined. One specimen collected at Umm Al-Maradim Island ( Fig. 1 , Tab. 1) .

Diagnosis. Parapodia biramous, with prechaetal lobe, ventral lobe and dorsal cirrus; prechaetal lobe symmetrical, with a notch giving distal border a bilobed appearance. Lateral eyespots anterior to parapodia on 11 chaetigers ( CH 7– CH 18)*. Branchiae present from CH 2 to CH 26. Anal tube barrel-shaped, straight at base, increasing width at dorsal midline and tapering again towards distal end; posterior border provided with 10 pairs of short marginal papillae/anal cirri of different length, about 1/5 as long as anal tube length; internal unpaired anal cirrus and pair of basal cirri present*.

(*) But see Description and Remarks

Description. Specimen complete, 12.0 mm long and 1.0 mm wide, with 29 chaetigers.

Body slender, slightly tapering towards anterior and posterior ends. Prostomium conical, palpode short and clavate ( Fig. 7A ). Eyes not seen. One pair of ring-shaped nuchal organs ( Fig. 7A ). Pharynx not everted; oral tentacles not seen. Parapodia biramous, with prechaetal lobe and ventral lobe ( Fig. 7B–G ); dorsal cirrus from CH 2 ( Fig. 7C ) to CH 25 at least ( Fig. 7G ). Prechaetal lobe symmetrical, with a notch giving distal border a bilobed appearance ( Fig. 7B–D ). Lateral eyespots anterior to parapodia on 14 chaetigers ( CH 7– CH 20); orange, horizontally oval, those of CH 15– CH 20 smaller than others. Simple, very long capillary chaetae in two bundles; notochaetae generally longer than neurochaetae ( Fig. 7A ). Ventral groove deep, well defined along body. Branchiae present from CH 2 to CH 28 (fallen in some chaetigers) ( Fig. 7G ), long, surpassing dorsal midline, decreasing in length in posterior most chaetigers, shortest in CH 27– CH 28 ( Fig. 7H ). Anal tube barrel-shaped, straight at base, width increasing at dorsal midline and tapering again towards distal end, as long as last three chaetigers ( Fig. 7H ). Anal tube opening directed posteriorly, not laterally compressed. Posterior border provided with nine pairs of short marginal papillae of different length, about 1/5 as long as anal tube length ( Fig. 7H–I ); unpaired anal cirrus and paired basal cirri not seen.

Distribution / Habitat. Armandia dolio is only known from the type location, Lizard Island (NE Australia), in shallow sublittoral ( 5–14 m) muddy sand ( Parapar & Moreira 2015; Fig. 12 ). The specimen here studied has been collected in Umm Al-Maradim Island in low intertidal sand-rock substratum ( Fig. 1 , Tab. 1).

Remarks. The only available specimen mostly fits with the original description. Still, it shows slight differences: 1) body measurements and number of chaetigers, 2) number and range of distribution of branchiae ( Kuwait: CH 27– 28 vs CH 26), 3) number, size and range of distribution of lateral eyespots ( Kuwait: CH 7 to CH 20 vs CH 7 to CH 18), 4) presence of parapodial dorsal cirrus ( CH 4 to last chaetiger in original description), 5) size and shape of anal tube and paired marginal papillae (“paired anal cirri” in Parapar & Moreira 2015). These differences might be due to intraspecific variation, but we prefer not confirming the identity of this specimen because of the great distance from the type locality (Lizard Island, Great Barrier Reef; Fig. 12 ); furthermore, the Kuwait specimen lacks prostomial eyes, a pair of basal papillae (“basal cirri” in Parapar & Moreira 2015) and the unpaired anal cirrus.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Sampling localities in the coast of Kuwait where specimens of Armandia studied in this work were collected; colours showing range of abundance.

FIGURE 7. Armandia aff.dolio Parapar & Moreira, 2015. Line drawings of one specimen (sample 12685, MNCN16.01/19609). (A) anterior end, left side, lateral view; (B–G) parapodia, right side (B–E, G, lateral view; F, dorsal view): CH1 (B), CH2 (C), CH3 (D), CH6 (E), CH10 (F) and CH25 (G). (H–I) anal tube and last chaetigers: lateral view (H) and ventral view (I). B–D = arrow pointing to prechaetal lobe notch. B–H = only proximal part of long chaetae drawn. Abbreviations: br = branchia; CH = chaetiger; nec = neurochaetae; noc = notochaetae; nuo = nuchal organ; pcl = parapodial prechaetal lobe; pdc = parapodial dorsal cirrus; pmpl = paired marginal papillae, left; pmpr = paired marginal papillae, right; pp = palpophore; ps = palpostyle; pvl = parapodial ventral lobe. B–D and E–G = same scale.

FIGURE 12. Map of Indian Ocean andWest Pacific Ocean showing the type locality and records of Armandia species previously reported in the Arabian Gulf (following Parapar et al. 2021b), complemented with the type locality of other taxa described in the area. 1—A. sampadae Gopal et al. 2016; 2—A. andamana (Grube, 1878); 3—A. exigua Kükenthal, 1887; 4—A. simodaensis Takahashi, 1938 and A. amakusaensis Saito et al., 2000; 5—A. broomensis Hartmann-Schröder, 1979; 6—A. bifida Parapar & Moreira, 2015, A. dolio Parapar & Moreira, 2015, A. filibranchia Parapar & Moreira, 2015, A. laminosa Parapar & Moreira, 2015, A. paraintermedia Parapar & Moreira, 2015, A. tubulata Parapar & Moreira, 2015, A. buccina Moreira & Parapar, 2017, A. casuarina Moreira & Parapar, 2017, A. mariacapae Moreira & Parapar, 2017, A. opisthoculata Moreira & Parapar, 2017 and A. parva Moreira & Parapar, 2017; 7—A. secundariopapillata Hartmann-Schröder, 1984; 8—A. bilobata Hartmann-Schröder, 1986.