New Species of Cirratulidae (Annelida, Polychaeta) from the Caribbean Sea

Abstract

Fifteen species in seven genera of Cirratulidae are reported from shallow-water collections in the Caribbean Sea primarily as part of the Caribbean I expedition of the research vessel Alpha Helix in 1977 and smaller separate collections from Panama and Venezuela. Thirteen species, all bitentaculates, are new to science. New species include Aphelochaeta caribbeanensis n. sp.; six species of Caulleriella: C. angusticrista n. sp., C. convexacapa n. sp., C. microbidentata n. sp., C. parapicula n. sp., C. parvinasa n. sp., and C. quadrata n. sp.; Chaetozone dossena n. sp.; three species of Kirkegaardia: K. filiformis n. sp., K. panamaensis n. sp., and K. playita n. sp.; and two species of Dodecaceria: D. alphahelixae n. sp. and D. dibranchiata n. sp. Additionally, two multitentaculate cirratulids, Cirriformia sp. from Panama and Timarete punctata (Grube, 1859) from Nicaragua are reported.

New species and record of Dodecaceria (Annelida: Cirratulidae) the Biological Reserve of Rocas Atoll, Brazil, the only atoll in the South Atlantic Ocean

“…Habitat . Coral reefs, 0–4 m depth [ 9 ]. In the present study, hard bottom and coral reefs, intertidal depths.…”

“…Like other cirratulids, the genus is confusing due to the superficial morphological similarity of species. Thus, for example, cirratulids lose important taxonomic characters during collection [ 3 , 8 ], such as in Dodecaceria , when frequently removed from their tubes, specimen handling can result in the fragmentation of the body at either the posterior or anterior end [ 9 ]. Other factors that can contribute to taxonomic misidentification are reproductive characteristics.…”

New species of Cirratulidae (Annelida) from continental slope and abyssal depths off eastern Australia

“…Remarks. The Cirratulidae currently include about 300 known species (Blake & Magalhães, 2019;Blake, 2019Blake, , 2021Blake & Dean, 2019;Grosse et al, 2021) that are generally separated into genera and species having numerous tentacular filaments (multitentaculates, about 80 species) and species having two tentacular filaments or dorsal tentacles (bitentaculates, about 220 species). The multitentaculates are mostly found in nearshore habitats, rarely offshore, whereas the bitentaculates are found in all habitats including the deep sea.…”

“…The bitentaculate genera are widespread in all habitats including the deep sea, whereas the multitentaculates are more or less limited to nearshore habitats. With the advent of offshore surveys and monitoring programs, numerous species of bitentaculate cirratulids have been described globally as part of studies conducted over the past two decades (Blake, 1996(Blake, , 2006(Blake, , 2015(Blake, , 2016(Blake, , 2018(Blake, , 2019(Blake, , 2021(Blake, , 2022Blake & Dean, 2019;Chambers, 2000;Chambers & Woodham, 2003;Doner & Blake, 2009;Dean & Blake, 2007, 2016Elías & Rivero, 2008, 2011Elías et al, 2017;Magalhães & Brock, 2013;Grosse et al, 2021). However, despite these studies and others, there have been few reports on bitentaculate cirratulids from Australia.…”

Still Digging: Advances and Perspectives in the Study of the Diversity of Several Sedentarian Annelid Families

“…More recently, more than 40 species have been described from the Clarion-Clipperton Fracture Zone in the North-East Pacific, the Southern Ocean, Antarctica, and South-East America [82,94,102], which are otherwise poorly known areas. Other areas where cirratulids have recently been studied and new species described include the Caribbean Sea, Hawaii, Korea, North-East Atlantic, and South Africa [103][104][105][106]. In particular, the recent description of five new species of Protocirrineris from South Africa and South America is remarkable as it represents important progress in the study of a little-known genus in a poorly studied geographical area [97,107,108].…”