Eunice, Gunton & Kupriyanova & Alvestad & Avery & Blake & Biriukova & Böggemann & Borisova & Budaeva & Burghardt & Capa & Georgieva & Glasby & Hsueh & Hutchings & Jimi & Kongsrud & Langeneck & Meißner & Murray & Nikolic & Paxton & Ramos & Schulze & Sobczyk & Watson & Wiklund & Wilson & Zhadan & Zhang, 2021

Gunton, Laetitia M., Kupriyanova, Elena K., Alvestad, Tom, Avery, Lynda, Blake, James A., Biriukova, Olga, Boeggemann, Markus, Borisova, Polina, Budaeva, Nataliya, Burghardt, Ingo, Capa, Maria, Georgieva, Magdalena N., Glasby, Christopher J., Hsueh, Pan-Wen, Hutchings, Pat, Jimi, Naoto, Kongsrud, Jon A., Langeneck, Joachim, Meissner, Karin, Murray, Anna, Nikolic, Mark, Paxton, Hannelore, Ramos, Dino, Schulze, Anja, Sobczyk, Robert, Watson, Charlotte, Wiklund, Helena, Wilson, Robin S., Zhadan, Anna & Zhang, Jinghuai, 2021, Annelids of the eastern Australian abyss collected by the 2017 RV ' Investigator' voyage, ZooKeys 1020, pp. 1-198 : 1

Eunice sp. nov. Fig. 8A, B

Diagnosis.

No pigmentation on preserved specimens. Prostomium bilobed, slightly notched. Eyes present, behind bases of palps. Prostomial appendages with widest gap separating palps from lateral antennae. Palpostyles, antennal styles, and peristomial cirri with irregular articulations. Peristomial rings distinct dorsally and ventrally but continuous laterally. Maxillae dentition: Mx I left 1, right 1. Mx II left 7, right 6. Mx III left 6. Mx IV left 5, right 9. Mx V left 1, right 1.

Branchiae absent. Lateral black dot between posterior parapodia absent. Dorsal cirri length short, at most as long as two body segments. Dorsal cirri of anterior chaetigers tapering, median chaetigers tapering, posterior chaetigers tapering, smooth, without articulations. Digitiform ventral cirri, basally inflated, commence chaetiger 3.

Pectinate chaetae absent. Compound falcigers present, appendages distally bidentate, hoods without mucros (rounded). Compound spinigers absent. Aciculae dark honey-coloured to black, distally bluntly pointed. Subacicular hooks dark honey-coloured to black, bidentate, distal tooth directed distally, subdistal tooth directed laterally. Subacicular hooks first present from chaetiger 24-27.

Remarks.

Although referred to here as ' Eunice sp.', the above combination of characters cannot be accommodated in any currently known eunicid genus. The species is here treated as a member of Eunice since that genus remains poorly defined and already contains species of uncertain relationships ( Zanol et al. 2020).

Records.

4 specimens. Suppl. material 1: ops. 69, 104 (AM).

Figures

Figure 8. Eunicidae A Eunice sp. nov., anterior view (AM W. 50148) B Maxillae of Eunice sp. nov. (AM W. 50148) C Leodice sp. nov., anterior view (AM W. 50146) D Maxillae of Leodice sp. nov. (AM W. 50152). Scale bars: 2 mm (A, C); 1 mm (B, D).