Iphione malifera Piotrowski, 2014

Salazar-Vallejo, Sergio I., Piotrowski, Christina N. & Paulay, Gustav, 2024, Revision of Iphione Kinberg, 1856 (Annelida, Aphroditiformia, Iphionidae), Zootaxa 5548 (1), pp. 1-84 : 48-49

Iphione malifera Piotrowski, 2014

Figs 18 , 36

Iphione malifera Piotrowski, 2014: 156–162 , Figs 1–3 .

Type material. Philippines. Holotype ( CAS 187234 ), Hearst Philippine Biodiversity Expedition 2011, Luzon Island, Batangas Province, Tingloy , Maricaban Island , Sea Pen dive site (13°41’24.0” N, 120°49’48.0” W), coral reef rubble, 33 m, 7 May 2011, A. Hermosillo, coll.

Additional material. Philippines. One specimen ( CASIZ 197953 ), Manbini , Balayan Bay , Cathedral dive site, under Fungia rubble near sponge, 2014 Verde Island Passage Expedition, sta. MAB-14 (13°43’12.0” N, 120°52’48.0” E), 40 ft, 28 Apr. 2014, C.N. Piotrowski coll. (intact specimen with few calcareous encrustations, long dark palps and tentacular cirri, elytra beige with mottled dark brown fanned striations across median elytra, progressively more pigment in posterior elytra, cylindrical inflated macrotubercles in 2 uniform rows; body 15 mm long, 7 mm wide, 29 chaetigers) .

Diagnosis. Iphione with median antenna reduced to nuchal papilla; elytra fimbriate; macrotubercles digitate or blunt conical, rarely with distal spines, in 3–4 rows, first row with macrotubercles slightly larger than those in other rows; cirrigerous segments with dorsal cirrophores with basal tubercle projected; neurochaetae unidentate.

Comments. The species was described recently. The holotype retains most elytra on site ( Fig. 18A ), but parapodial features were not detailed, especially the presence of tubercles in bases of dorsal cirrophores ( Fig. 18B ); they are conical, without basal projections. Neurochaetae are unidentate, with tips falcate ( Fig. 18C ).

Remarks. Iphione malifera Piotrowski, 2014 resembles I. hourdezi sp. nov. from New Caledonia because both have elytra with fimbriae tiny and digitate macrotubercles. Their main differences are in the number of rows of macrotubercles, and in the shape of neurochaetae. In I. malifera , macrotubercles are in 2–3 rows, and neurochaetae are subdistally swollen with falcate tips, whereas I. hourdezi has macrotubercles in two rows, and neurochaetae are acicular (barely swollen subdistally) with tips mostly straight.

Iphione malifera is sister species to I. henshawi in the COI tree ( Fig. 36 ).

Distribution. Only known from the Philippines, in subtidal mixed bottoms (12–33 m).

Figures

FIGURE 1. Iphione readi sp. nov. (incl. I. muricata sensu Savigny (1822)), non-type specimens, left elytra 7 of non-type specimens (NHM 1941.4.4.168–172), arranged vertically. A. 9 mm long specimen. B. 16 mm long specimen. C. 23 mm long specimen. D. Iphione muricata (Savigny in Lamarck, 1818) non-type small specimen (11.5 mm long, MAGNT W2894), elytron 6 (E, F indicate areas enlarged in E and F, and asterisk indicates the enlarged area in G). E. Close-up of macrotubercle (Mt) and fimbriae. F. Same. G. Close-up of microtubercles along posterior margin. Scale bars: A, 0.4 mm; B, D, 0.5 mm; C, 0.8 mm; E, F, 100 µm; G, 70 µm.

FIGURE 2. Iphione ovata Kinberg, 1856, non-type specimens (2 ECOSUR 0000, Sta. 30, 13 mm long). A) Ventral view. B. Ventral body wall and most muscle bundles removed, oval masses are ovaries. C. Pharynx and gut ventral wall removed (*: enteric caeca). D. Pharynx, upper jaws separated medially. E. Pharynx, lower jaws separated medially (Pa: papilla, Ph: pharynx, St: stomach). Scale bars: A, 1.38 mm; B, 1.43 mm; C, 1.48 mm; D, 0.32 mm; E, 0.27 mm.

FIGURE 3. Pharynx features. A. Iphione henshawi Pettibone, 1986, non-type specimen (BPBM R481), anterior end, pharynx exposed, dorsal view. B. Same, ventral view. C. Same, frontal view of pharynx (numbers indicate papillae). D. Same, left lateral view. E. Iphione muricata (Savigny in Lamarck, 1818), restricted, non-type specimens (UF 411), smaller specimen (9 mm wide), pharynx, frontal view (numbers indicate upper papillae). F. Another, larger specimen (16 mm wide), pharynx, frontal view (numbers indicate upper papillae). Scale bars: A, B, 1.3 mm; C, 0.9 mm; D, 0.7 mm; E, 0.3 mm; F, 0.6 mm.

FIGURE 18. Iphione malifera Piotrowski, 2014, holotype (CAS 187234). A. Dorsal view. B. Chaetiger 14, left parapodium, posterior view (after Methyl green staining). C. Same, lower and middle neurochaetae. Scale bars: A, 2 mm; B, 0.4 mm; C, 110 μm.

FIGURE 36. Maximum Likelihood phylogeny of Iphione species with localities and catalog numbers. Numbers above branches are bootstrap support (>70 only) (PNG: Papua New Guinea) (modified after Piotrowski et al. 2024).