Branchiomma nigromaculatum (Baird, 1865)

Giangrande, Adriana, Licciano, Margherita & Gambi, Maria Cristina, 2007, A collection of Sabellidae (Polychaeta) from Carrie Bow Cay (Belize, western Caribbean Sea) with the description of two new species, Zootaxa 1650, pp. 41-53 : 45-46

Branchiomma nigromaculatum (Baird, 1865)

Sabella crispa Kroyer, 1856 ; Sabella nigromaculata Baird, 1865 ; Dasychone nigromaculatum McIntosh, 1885 (Plate XXXI, Figs 4, 6), Branchiomma nigromaculata Johansson, 1927 ; San Martin et al., 1994; Knight-Jones, 1994; Tovar-Hernández and Salazar-Vallejo, 2006.

Material examined. One specimen collected at 0.5 m as an epibiont on dead shell of Strombus (Tricornis) gigas collected within Thalassia in the Carrie Bow Cay shallow lagoon between the island and the outer reef (not listed in Table 1); 1 specimen on dead coral rubble at 7 m off the W entrance of Twin Cays (sample CBC- KF 1007); 2 specimens on dead coral rubble at 18 m (CBC-KF 1018); 1 specimen in Thalassia at 4 m on the N-E external side of Twin Cays (sample CBC-KF 1019).

Remarks. Collected specimens are small, about 15 mm in length, compared to sizes reported in the literature of up to 60 mm reported for this species. Radioles with dark brown bands alternating with white and orange bands, two pairs of macrostylods twice as long as their neighboring pairs, alternate along the radioles with small sub-digitiform stylodes.

The species is endemic of the Caribbean Sea region. A recent redescription is available in Tovar-Hernández and Salazar-Vallejo (2006) who clarified the complex synonymies and geographical distribution of this species.