Serpula vittata Augener, 1914

(Fig. 24A)

Serpula vittata Augener, 1914: 137 –139, fig. 17, pl. 1, figs 18–19 [WA, Shark Bay; original desciption].

Serpula vittata . —Imajima & ten Hove 1984: 41–42 [WA, Palau Islands; type material studied and synonymy]; Imajima 1987: 79 [Okinawa, Japan]; Parab & Gaikwad 1989: 224 [India]; Nishi 1993b: 18 –19, fig. 1e, table 1 [Okinawa, Japan; in living coral]; Kupriyanova et al. 2008: 95, fig. 1E [Lizard Island, Qld; DNA data, colour photo]; ten Hove & Kupriyanova 2009: 8, fig. 1C [colour photo].

Not Serpula vittata .— Straughan 1967a: 30 [Heron Island, Qld; see Imajima & ten Hove 1984: 41]; Nishi & Asakura 1996: 56 [description; Marianas].

Serpula palauense Imajima, 1982: 40 –42, fig. 2a–m [fide Imajima & ten Hove 1984: 41].

Material examined. AM W.47832, between Bird and South Islands, 15 m, coll. P. Hutchings, 12 Mar 1986; AM W.42060, stn.G242, east lagoon near Bird Islet, coll. G. Rouse & E. Kupriyanova, 1 Nov 2005; AM W.42056, stn.G244, off South Island, coll. G. Rouse & E. Kupriyanova, 2 Nov 2005; AM W.45063, MI QLD 2413 (tube); SAM E3594, stn.G236, east lagoon near Bird Islet, 9 m, coll. G. Rouse & E. Kupriyanova, 29 Oct 2005; ZMA V.Pol. 5532, stn.16, North Point, sloping reef, mainly dead, slightly silted corals, 3–17 m, coll. H. ten Hove, P. Hutchings & M. Reid, 1 Mar 1986.

Diagnosis. Tube white with (3–)5 longitudinal ridges, dotted with small deep-brown speckles (to almost orange in fresh material) between those ridges (Imajima 1982: 41, fig. 2m; as S. palauense) to complete transverse bands of brown.

Remarks. Serpula vittata differs from all other known Serpula spp. in its very characteristic tube. Though the operculum has been decribed with 18–23 radii (Augener 1914: 138, fig. 18 respectively Imajima 1982: 40, fig. 2a), in our material the operculum occasionally is globular only, with 6 longitudinal grooves (probably still developing from the pseudoperculum; Fig. 24A). From the diagnosis of the tube by Straughan (1967a: 30), round and white, her material evidently belongs to a different species. Similarly, Nishi & Asakura (1996) describe the tube as “white, thick walled, with a granular surface, irregularly coiled and lacking longitudinal ridges”.

Distribution. WA, Qld Australia; Palau Islands. First record from Lizard Island.