Diopatra neapolitana Delle Chiaje, 1841

Paxton, Hannelore & Arias, Andres, 2017, Unveiling a surprising diversity of the genus Diopatra Audouin & Milne Edwards, 1833 (Annelida: Onuphidae) in the Macaronesian region (eastern North Atlantic) with the description of four new species, Zootaxa 4300 (4), pp. 505-535 : 529

Diopatra neapolitana Delle Chiaje, 1841

Figure 17 ; Table 1

Diopatra neapolitana Delle Chiaje, 1841: 97 .— Rullier 1964: 183 –184 (indeterminable, Cape Verde).— Bellan 1969: 43 (Madeira) ; ?Núñez 1990: 499–501, fig 168 (Tenerife, Canary Islands); Arias et al. 2016: 1–17, figs 1–9 (redescription). Diopatra cuprea cuprea . — Kirkegaard 1988: 24 –25 (restating record by Rullier (1964).?Not Bosc, 1802.

Diopatra cuprea . — Núñez et al. 1999: 139 ( Cape Verde).?Not Bosc, 1802.

Material examined. Type material. Neotype ( MNCN 16.01 /16921), Pozzuoli Bay , Naples , Gulf of Naples, Italy, coll. local fisherman-A. Arias, Apr 2013.

Non-type material. AM W.42262 (3 specimens), Bay of Machico, East coast of Madeira island, 32.72°N – 16.77°W, depth 8 m, coll. P. Wirtz.

Type locality. Mediterranean Sea , Gulf of Naples, Italy.

Diagnosis. Prostomium anteriorly extended and pointed with two subulate frontal lips. Palps reaching chaetiger 1–3; antennae reaching chaetiger 4–10, with 8–17 ceratophoral rings, lateral projections absent; nuchal grooves semicircular to ¾ circle; peristomial cirri present. Anterior three to four pairs of parapodia with uni- to bidentate pseudocompound hooks with pointed hoods; single postchaetal lobes. Ventral parapodial lobes present ( Fig. 17 C); ventral cirri on four chaetigers. Subacicular hooks from chaetiger 16–22; pectinate chaetae with 5–10 teeth; spiralled branchiae, first on chaetiger 4–5, last single filament on chaetiger 50–70. Colour pattern of short transverse middorsal bar on anterior margin of anterior segments ( Fig. 17 A, B). Tubes consisting mainly of silt and sand with hardly any ornamentation, distal end terminating near sediment level, without tube cap ( Fig. 17 D, E).

Remarks. Rullier (1964) reported two small specimens as D. neapolitana from Cape Verde. He stated that although he did consider them as D. cuprea , he preferred to refer to them as D. neapolitana as the cosmopolitan species in the sense of Fauvel & Rullier (1959). The same record was restated by Kirkegaard (1988) as D. cuprea cuprea . Núñez et al. (1999) collected Diopatra from two localities at Cape Verde, and reported them as D. cuprea . We have no record of either species from Cape Verde, and in view of the recently discovered diversity of Diopatra in this region, consider the records as indeterminable.

Three specimens of D. neapolitana from Madeira were sent for identification to one of us (H.P.). The specimens are anterior fragments, two measure 10 and 17 mm in length for 8 and 15 chaetigers, and 5.5 and 6.5 mm in width respectively. In the third specimen (18 mm long, 20 chaetigers, 5.5 mm wide) the head and anterior six chaetigers are regenerated.

Distribution. Eastern North Atlantic, from the Bay of Biscay to the Canary Islands and the eastern Mediterranean Sea.

Figures

FIGURE 17. Diopatra neapolitana, photomicrographs (all but C) and scanning electron micrograph. (C). A, complete live worm, dorsal view; B, anterior end, dorsal view; C, SEM image of anterior parapodia to show ventral lobes; D, live worm removed from its tube; E, distal end of tube at sediment level. Notation of Fig. C: arrows pointing to ventral lobes; Roman numerals indicate chaetiger numbers.