Magelona cornuta Wesenberg-Lund, 1949

Mortimer, Kate, 2010, Magelonidae (Polychaeta) from the Arabian Peninsula: a review of known species, with notes on Magelona tinae from Thailand, Zootaxa 2628, pp. 1-26 : 18

Magelona cornuta Wesenberg-Lund, 1949 emended

Magellone cornuta Wesenberg-Lund 1949: 328 –330, fig. 36, 366, map III, 378, table I.

Remarks. The holotype of M. cornuta (originally described from Iranian waters, Gulf of Oman) was redescribed by Mortimer & Mackie (2009) and will not be further discussed herein. Magelona cornuta was recorded from the Red Sea by Amoureux (1983). A specimen of M. cornuta (MNHN A895) labelled Eilat (5th May 1979) Golfe d’Aqaba borrowed from the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, is believed to be that described by Amoureux. Detailed examination of this specimen shows that it is not M. cornuta but differs in the shape of the prostomium, having a more rounded shape with very distinct almost separate frontal horns, and foliaceous lateral lamellae with crenulated upper margins. This specimen appears to represent a new species and will be described in a forthcoming paper.

Magelona cornuta has also been recorded from the Gulf of Aden ( Harman 1974, 1976) from four stations: Sta. 210 (21°07' to 09'N, 69°48'E, 34-37 m, mud), Sta. 230 (23°3'N; 66°55'E, 88 m), Sta. 247 (25°06'N; 60° 45'E, 110 m) and Sta. 248 (listed as having the same data as Sta. 247, however also recorded as being at a depth of 247 m). However, M. cornuta did not occur in material examined from the Gulf of Oman examined by Mortimer & Mackie (2009), although the morphologically similar species M. crenulifrons was found to be present. Given the small number of records of M. cornuta within this area, Hartman’s specimens should be reexamined. However, until then I currently consider M. cornuta to have an Indo-West Pacific distribution.