Micronephthys oligobranchia

Siddique, Alfisa, Purushothaman, Jasmine, Bhowal, Aishee & Mandal, Sumit, 2021, Distribution and diversity of Polychaeta (Phylum: Annelida) in the Northern coastal waters of Bay of Bengal, Records of the Zoological Survey of India 121 (4), pp. 453-463 : 456

8. Micronephthys oligobranchia (Southern, 1921)

1921. Nephthys oligobranchia Southern, Mem. Ind. Mus. 5 (8): 610–611, plate XXIV, fig. 12A–C.

2010. Micronephthys oligobranchia Dnestrovskaya & Jirkov, Invertebr. Zool. 7 (2): 115.

Diagnosis: Elongated white body, comprising of 30-40 segments, about 3-6 cm in length. Presence of a pair of nodular chitinized internal jaws. 14 rows of fleshy papillae on the surface of proboscis and a circle of bilobed papillae at the extremity of the proboscis. Presence of a small prostomium with four antennae. The anterior segments are closely arranged, whereas, the posterior segments are broader, having a narrow connection between them. Lyrate setae present.The first setiger contains setae on both rami. The species lacks dorsal and ventral cirri. Parapodia is biramous, with both rami distinctly separated from each other. The branchia appears from 5-7 segments up to 30 th segment. Presence of a solitary long anal cirrus. Inter-ramal cirri appear from setigers 6-8 ( Rao, 2001).

Distribution: India - Gangetic delta, Chilka lake, Vishakapatnam, Cochin backwaters ( Misra et al., 1987), Kayankulam backwaters and Arattupuzha coast along the Southwest coast of India ( Devi et al., 1996), East coast of India in Vasishta Godavari Estuary ( Rao et al., 2009). World – China, Gulf of Siam ( Fauvel, 1932).