Serpula watsoni Willey, 1905

(Fig. 24 B)

Serpula watsoni Willey, 1905: 317, pl. 7, fig. 187, pl. 8, fig. 6 [Trincomalee, Sri Lanka].

Serpula watsoni .— Straughan 1967a: 207 –208, fig. 3b [Havannah Island, Qld]; Imajima 1977: 91 –92, fig. 2a–j [Ogasawara Islands, Japan; redescription]; 1987: 78 [Okinawa, Japan]; Mak 1982: 609 [Hong Kong]; Morton & Morton 1983: 348 [Hong Kong]; Imajima & ten Hove 1984: 39, fig. 2 [Truk, Ponape, Majuro; Lizard Island; opercular variation]; 1986: 2 [Solomon Islands]; Parab & Gaikwad 1989: 224 –225 [India]; Nishi 1992c: 79 –80 [occurrence on living coral; Okinawa, Japan]; Wang & Huang 1993: 7 [Hong Kong; fouling]; Sun & Yang 2001a: 194 –195, fig. 6G–M [South China Sea]; Bastida-Zavala 2008: 46–47, fig. 11L–M [Hawaii]; Kupriyanova et al. 2008: 429 [Lizard Island, Qld; DNA data]. Serpula cf. watsoni .—Nishi 1996: 314 [Okinawa, Japan].

Material examined. AM W.42062, stn.G235, Coconut Beach, 14°0'S, 145°0'E, coral rubble, coll. G. Rouse & E. Kupriyanova, 28 Oct 2005; AM W.44048, MI QLD 2341; AM W.45098, MI QLD 2435; AM W.47574, stn.G240, Osprey Island, intertidal rubble zone, 31 October 2005, coll. G. Rouse & E. Kupriyanova, 31 Oct 2005; SAM E3595, stn.G241, granite boulders, Bird Islet, coll. G. Rouse & E. Kupriyanova, 31 Oct 2005.

Diagnosis. Opercular funnel with 33 to 55 radii, very elongated, about as long as peduncle, with deep hollow, and inter-radiolar grooves almost reaching towards the constriction between funnel and peduncle.

Remarks. A taxon with a very similar operculum, but probably a different species, has been found at Long Reef (Sydney) and in the Abrolhos Archipelago (ten Hove unpubl.).

Distribution. Sri Lanka; Indo-West Pacific.