Diopatra neopolitana Delle Chiaje, 1841

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 : 455

3. Diopatra neopolitana Delle Chiaje, 1841

1841. Diopatra neopolitana Delle-Chiaje, Batelli & Co., Naples, 1841 -1844, 97–98, pl. VI–VII.

Diagnosis: Body length ranges between 4-15 cm, enclosed in tough tubes of fine sand or mud. Prostomium with a pair of short, slender frontal antennae, a pair of oval cushion like palps, and five long occipital tentacles with ringed ceratophores near the base. Branchiae starting from setiger 4-5, extending up to setiger 25-30, branchial filaments arranged in 10-12 whorls and reduced in posterior segments. All the segments possess winged capillaries, comb-setae and acicular setae except the first 4-5 segments which have winged capillaries and pseudocompound hooks with tridentate tips ( Rao, 2001).

Distribution: India - West coast of India from Cape Comorin to Dwarka ( Joydas & Damodaran, 2009), Mormugao, Trivandrum, Nellore, Nizamapatnam, Machilipatnam, Kakinada ( Musale & Desai, 2011). World - Aegean and Ionian Seas, Greece and Eastern Mediterranean Sea ( Simboura et al., 2000), Gulf of Oman, Arabian Gulf ( Wehe & Fiege, 2002), Cap Bon Peninsula, North-Eastern coast of Tunisia, Western Mediterranean Sea ( Zaâbi et al., 2012).