Galathowenia Kirkegaard, 1959

Mikac, Barbara, 2015, A sea of worms: polychaete checklist of the Adriatic Sea, Zootaxa 3943 (1), pp. 1-172 : 71

Genus Galathowenia Kirkegaard, 1959

Galathowenia oculata (Zachs, 1923)

DISTRIBUTION: NA, CA, SA.

LITERATURE RECORDS: Laubier 1962; Katzmann 1973f; Amoureux 1976; Bellan 1976; Zavodnik et al. 1981; Amoureux 1983a; Orel et al. 1987; Aleffi et al. 1988; Požar-Domac 1994; Zahtila 1995, 1997; Zavodnik & Kovačić 2000; Crema et al. 2001; Cantone & Di Pietro 2002; Aleffi et al. 2003; Simonini et al. 2004; Solis-Weiss et al. 2004, 2007; Casellato et al. 2007; Casellato & Stefanon 2008; Castelli et al. 2008; Mikac et al. 2011; Musco et al. 2011.

NEW RECORDS: BM11, BM12, BM13, BM14, BM15, BM16, BM17, BM18, BM19, BM20, BM21,BM22, BM26, BM27, BM28, BM34, BM38, BM39, BM41, BM42, BM43, BM44, BM45, BM46, BM47, BM48, BM49, BM50, BM51, BM52, BM53, BM54, BM62, BM65, BM66, BM67, BM73, BM86, BM91, BM92, BM98, BM99, BM101. OTHER REPORTED NAMES: Myriochele oculata Zachs, 1922 ; Myriochele heeri Malmgren, 1867

REMARKS: Martín (1989) considers that the previous findings of Myriochele heeri Malmgren, 1867 in the Mediterranean Sea should be attributed to Galathowenia oculata with the exception of the Tyrrhenian Sea, where both species were reported by Cognetti-Variale (1979). However this last report of M. heeri should also be considered as dubious ( Aguirrezabalaga et al. 2000). Blake (2000) emphasizes the differences in the morphology of the pygidial lobes of G. oculata between the Iberian specimens and the specimens from the Arctic (type locality of the species), boreal, and deeper waters examined by Nilsen & Holthe (1985), and considers that the records of G. oculata from the Mediterranean and Iberian shallow waters belong probably to a different species. The majority of previous reports from the Adriatic Sea were also attributed to M. heeri . On stations studied by the author specimens belonging to both genera, Galathowenia and Myriochele , were found, and more detailed analyses are in progress to unveil which species are present in the region. For the moment all the previous findings of M. heeri in the Adriatic are here attributed to G. oculata .