Prionospio (Prionospio) saccifera Mackie & Hartley, 1990

Dagli, Ertan & Çinar, Melih Ertan, 2009, Species of the subgenera Aquilaspio and Prionospio (Polychaeta: Spionidae: Prionospio) from the southern coast of Turkey (Levantine Sea, eastern Mediterranean), with description of a new species and two new reports for the Mediterranean fauna, Zootaxa 2275, pp. 1-20 : 11-12

Prionospio (Prionospio) saccifera Mackie & Hartley, 1990

Prionospio saccifera Mackie & Hartley, 1990:366 –371, figs. 3–4; Çinar & Ergen 1999:107 –109, fig. 2.

Material examined. ESFM –POL/05–266, 3 specimens, 9 September 2005, Iskenderun Bay, G2, 36º43΄19΄΄N, 36º09΄30΄΄E, 50 m, sandy mud; ESFM –POL/05–1384, 2 specimens, 17 September 2005, Iskenderun Bay, G8, 36º44΄22΄΄N, 34º39΄0 2΄΄E, 25 m, mud; ESFM –POL/05–1618, 2 specimens, 27 September 2005, Antalya Bay, G12, 36º50΄17΄΄N, 30º36΄31΄΄E, 10 m, sandy mud; ESFM –POL/05–1855, 3 specimens, 30 September 2005, Finike Bay, G18, 36º16΄31΄΄N, 30º10΄50΄΄E, 75 m, mud; ESFM –POL/05–2035, 1 specimen, 30 September 2005, Finike Bay, G19, 36º16΄0 6΄΄N, 30º11΄31΄΄E, 100 m, mud; ESFM –POL/05–3192, 10 specimens, 30 September 2005, Finike Bay, G17, 36º16΄48΄΄N, 30º10΄20ʺE, 50 m, mud; ESFM –POL/05–1534, 11 specimens, 6 October 2005, Fethiye Bay, G28, 36º37΄48΄΄N, 29º06΄30΄΄E, 10 m, mud; ESFM –POL/05–3193, 35 specimens, 6 October 2005, Fethiye Bay, G29, 36º39΄29΄΄N, 29º06΄0 2΄΄E, 25 m, sandy mud; ESFM –POL/05– 3194, 7 specimens, 6 October 2005, Fethiye Bay, G30, 36º39΄24΄΄N, 29º04΄44΄΄E, 50 m, sandy mud.

Diagnosis. Largest specimen incomplete, 1.01 mm wide, 12.5 mm long, with 41 chaetigers. Color in alcohol pale brown. Prostomium anteriorly rounded, lateral margins somewhat convex, extending as a long narrow caruncle to base of chaetiger 2; caruncle surrounded by nuchal organs on either side. Two pairs of black subdermal eyes; anterior pair set wider apart, usually represented by single eyespots; posterior pair often multioculate, cup-shaped to reniform, much larger than anterior pair. Four pairs of branchiae on chaetigers 2– 5; first pair with long digitiform pinnules on laterally; second and third pairs apinnate, equal in length, with dense lateral ciliation and sharply pointed tips; fourth pair apinnate, cirriform. Notopodial and neuropodial postchaetal lamellae on chaetiger 1 small, subtriangular. Notopodial postchaetal lamellae foliaceous, largest on chaetigers 3–4, thereafter becoming subtriangular then rounded. Notopodial postchaetal lamellae united, forming low dorsal crests across dorsum from chaetiger 6 to 15–17. Neuropodial lamellae large, rounded in branchial region, increasingly rounded thereafter. Interpapodial pouches from chaetiger 2 to 24–26. Ventral sabre chaeta first present on chaetigers 18–19, numbering one per fascicle. Multidentate hooded hooks first appearing on neuropodia of chaetigers 20–21 and on notopodia of chaetiger 38.

Remarks. Prionospio (P.) saccifera was originally described from Hong Kong and the Gulf of Suez (Red Sea) by Mackie & Hartley (1990) and subsequently from the Turkish Mediterranean coast by Çinar & Ergen (1999). Our specimens agree well with the original and subsequent descriptions of the species.

Ecology. The highest population density (350 individuals.m -2) of this species was found on sandy mud substratum at 25 m depth at station G29 (Fethiye Bay).

Distribution. Eastern Pacific, Red Sea and Mediterranean Sea ( Çinar & Ergen 1999); 11– 85 m.