Six new species of Protodrilus (Annelida, Polychaeta) from Europe and New Zealand, with a concise presentation of the genus

Abstract

Protodrilus haurakiensis sp.n., P. jouinae sp.n., P. jägersteni sp.n., P. submersus sp.n. and P. litoralis sp.n. from New Zealand and P. gracilis sp.n. from Europe are described. Protodrilus jägcrsteni, P. submersus and P. litoralis are sibling species. Sperm dimorphism in all species investigated by the author is recorded for the first time in polychaetes. Two of the three so‐called ‘ecological forms’ of P. hypoleucus and P. adhaerens are classified as variations of the type species without a particular taxonomic rank. In a table the partly actualized data of all 30 known Protodrilus species are presented, 8 of which are very insufficiently described. Synonyms in Protodrilus and similarities between P. rubropharyngeus Jägersten and P. flavocapitatus Uljanin are mentioned.

Protodrilus (Protodrilidae, Annelida) from the southern and southeastern Brazilian coasts

“…P. corderoi and P. ovarium are morphologically similar to P. helgolandicus, P. hypoleucus, P. similis also dwelling in intertidal medium-coarse sand of Europe. Protodrilus pythonius is morphologically closer to P. jägersteni, P. submersus, P. litoralis and P. smithsoni, which are found in subtidal or intertidal, sheltered areas with coarse sand from New Zeland and Panama (Von Nordheim 1989;Armenante 1903;von Nordheim 1983). These results further indicate that colonization is highly restricted by the specific demands of the environment, and stress the importance of morphological adaptation to different habitats in the evolution of Protodrilus.…”

“…Protodrilida has never been recovered with molecular data, and the position of the three families in Annelida is still pending (Struck 2011). Despite their relatively high species diversity, Protodrilidae still represent a taxonomical challenge due to their limited morphological diversity and lack of structures such as chaetae or jaws (Von Nordheim 1989). Several of the species are only poorly described (Kirsteuer 1966;Langerhans 1880;Wieser 1957), and many of the records possibly represent potentially new species (Kirsteuer 1967;Jouin 1970a;Bailey-Brock et al 2010), all pointing to the need of a major revision of the group before we can understand their evolutionary and biogeographical history (Worsaae and Kristensen 2005;Martínez et al 2013).…”

“…Species of Protodrilus are restricted to the interstitial environment of marine sediments, spanning from fine sand to gravel (Von Nordheim 1989). The body shape reflected in the reasonable ecological uniformity by homogeneous body plan, consisting of a cylindrical elongated body with a midventral ciliary band, for gliding and a head region with prostomial paired palps and a ventral muscular pharynx for collect deposit particles among the sediment grains.…”

Identification guide to the planktonic polychaete larvae around the island of Helgoland (German Bight)

“…39) (Fig. 2) 6 species of the genus Protodrilus have been described for the southeastern part of the German Bight [P. adhaerens J~gersten, 1952; P. ciliatus J~gersten, 1952; P. gracilis von Nordheim, 1989; P. helgolandicus von Nordheim, 1983; P. oculifer Pierantoni, 1908; P. purpureus Schneider, 1886] (von Nordheim, 1989). The morphological differences between the larval stages of these species are very slight and a species determination is not possible.…”

A chronological review of polychaete taxonomy in New Zealand

“…A more modern approach to polychaete taxonomy thus began polychaetes were usually studied on a taxonomic rather than on an area (or cruise) basis, often in the form of revisions of local representatives of a family, and types were assigned to new taxa and deposited in museums Although we have not reviewed the post-1950 New Zealand polychaete taxa in detail, the families covered by Knox were Nereididae, Glycendae and the Eunicida group (Knox 1951, 1956, 1960b, Knox & Green 1972a, b, c, Knox & Green 1973, Knox & Hicks 1973 Knox's New Zealand type specimens all reside in the Canterbury Museum, Chnstchurch, except perhaps for Clavisylhs alternata Knox, 1957, Glycera lamelhpodia Knox, 1960b, Hemipodus ellesmerensis Knox, 1960b, Lepidonotus fiordlandica Knox, 1956, Nereis delh Knox, 1960a, Nicon aestuanensis Knox, 1951 and Sthenelais chathamensis Knox, 1960a, which do not appear in the current register Taxon-based revisions continued during the 1970s and marked a decline in the number of Northern Hemisphere species reported from our waters and a concurrent surge m the number of new species described Revisionary-type studies have been published on the Spionidae (Rainer 1973, Read 1975, Blake 1984, Protodnhdae (von Nordheim 1989), Dorvilleidae (Westheide & vonNordheim 1985), Poecilochaetidae (Read 1986), and Serpuhdae Spirorbmae (Vine 1977) Papers describing new polychaete taxa (and new records) from the New Zealand region since Day & Hutchings (1979) catalogue are Read (1980Read ( ,1986, Blake (1983Blake ( , 1984, Westheide & von Nordheim (1985), Paxton (1986 a, b), von Nordheim (1987Nordheim ( , 1989, Riser (1987), Mitchell & Edwards (1988), Orensanz (1990), Pettibone (1991Pettibone ( , 1992a, …”