Prosphaerosyllis chauseyensis Olivier, Grant, San Martin , Archambault & McKindsey, 2011

Faulwetter, Sarah, Chatzigeorgiou, Georgios, Galil, Bella S. & Arvanitidis, Christos, 2011, An account of the taxonomy and distribution of Syllidae (Annelida, Polychaetes) in the eastern Mediterranean, with notes on the genus Prosphaerosyllis San Martin, 1984 in the Mediterranean, ZooKeys 150, pp. 281-326 : 287

Prosphaerosyllis chauseyensis Olivier, Grant, San Martin, Archambault & McKindsey, 2011 Figs 45

Prosphaerosyllis chauseyensis Olivier et al., 2011, figs 1-3a, b.

Material examined.

Haifa Bay, Israel: ALA-IL-8 (12 ind.) [coll. 31.5.2009]; ALA-IL-1 (23 ind.), ALA-IL-2 (4 ind.), ALA-IL-5 (1 ind.), ALA-IL-7 (73 ind.), ALA-IL-8 (24 ind.), ALA-IL-9 (68 ind.), ALA-IL-10 (99 ind.) [coll. 11.10.2009].

Comparative material examined.

Sphaerosyllis brevicirra Hartmann-Schröder, 1960 (Zoological Museum Hamburg, Holotype P-17566, Ghardaqa, Red Sea: 1 individual [Label: Sphaerosyllis brevicirra n. sp., Ghardaqa (Rot. Meer) (Typ), 29.3.56, coll. Remane/Schulz]); Prosphaerosyllis chauseyensis ( Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris, Holotype MNHN POLY TYPE 1524, Chausey Islands, France: 1 individual [Label: HOLOTYPE MNHN Paris 1524, Chausey, Prosphaerosyllis sp. A, (5 ind. for SEM +Holotype), C1AM et C3AV]).

Type locality.

Chausey Islands, Normandy (north-east Atlantic).

Distribution.

North-east Atlantic (Normandy), Mediterranean Sea: LB. New record for the Mediterranean Sea.

Habitat.

Until 13 m depth, in medium to very coarse sand.

Reproduction.

Three specimens collected at Station ALA-IL-8 on 31 May 2009 with egg capsules attached near dorsal cirri on midbody chaetigers.

Remarks.

The specimens from Israel agree well with the specimens from Normandy, however, the Mediterranean specimens differ from the Holotype in: a) Papillation pattern: each segment with one papilla between dorsal cirri and four papillae, situated dorso-laterally and ventro-laterally on each side of parapodium, most developed in posterior chaetigers, from mid-body additional papillae arranged in two very irregular lines along middle of dorsum, increasing in length towards posterior end (ca. 20 µm posteriorly). Ventrally 2 smaller (about half the size of dorsal papillae) papillae in middle of ventrum at posterior end of each segment. Specimens from Normandy have an irregular papillation pattern, but papillation is more distinct laterally, as in specimens from Israel; b) Length of anal cirri: about 125 µm, ca. 2.5-3 times length of posterior dorsal cirri (Fig. 4) (the anal cirri are broken in the holotype and the large lateral anal papillae might have been erroneously regarded as anal cirri in the original description). Specimens from both locations have anterior dorsal cirri with two papillae (dorsal and ventral) and posterior dorsal cirri only with dorsal papilla (Fig. 5, not reported by Olivier et al. 2011).

Individuals identified by Ben-Eliahu (1977a) as Sphaerosyllis tetralix Eliason, 1920, from the Gulf of Elat and the Mediterranean Sea might in fact belong to Prosphaerosyllis chauseyensis . The description and illustrations agree with many characteristics of Prosphaerosyllis chauseyensis , including the characteristic papilla on the dorsal cirri. However, Ben-Eliahu reports the species to have palps widely separated anteriorly (fused in Prosphaerosyllis chauseyensis ), do rsum with four longitudinal rows of papillae (irregular rows in Prosphaerosyllis chauseyensis ) and the proventriculum stretching through 4 chaetigers (5 in Prosphaerosyllis chauseyensis ). The material of the species described by Ben-Eliahu could not be examined during this study, therefore it can only tentatively be assigned to Prosphaerosyllis chauseyensis .