Trophoniella salazarae, SALAzAR-Vallejo, 2012

SALAzAR-Vallejo, Sergio I., 2012, Revision of Trophoniella Hartman, 1959 (Polychaeta, Flabelligeridae), Zoosystema 34 (3), pp. 453-519 : 453-519

Trophoniella salazarae n. sp.

( Fig. 26 )

TYPE MATERIAL. — Eastern tropical Pacific. Holotype ( ECOSUR-116 ) and 1 paratype ( MNHN), Careyeros (20°47’10” N, 105°30’48” W), Sayulita, Nayarit, Mexico, mixed shore, intertidal, 12.IV.2008, P. Salazar-Silva (paratype 82 mm long, 10 mm wide, cephalic cage 8 mm long, 112 chaetigers; gonopodial lobes not seen; 5 notochaetae in chaetiger 11). — 1 paratype (ECO- SUR), Sayulita (20°52’15”N, 105°26’40”W), Nayarit, Mexico, mixed shore, intertidal, 28.XI.2004, P. Salazar & B. Yáñez (regenerating after 2 transverse bites, 1 in the posterior third of the body, the other in the last few chaetigers; 88 mm long, 5 mm wide, cephalic cage 8.5 mm long, 104 chaetigers; gonopodial lobes not seen; 5 notochaetae in chaetiger 11). — 1 paratype ( UANL), broken in 2 matching pieces, Punta Cerritos (23°18’26.6”N, 106°27’21.3”W), Mazatlán, Sinaloa, Mexico, mixed shore, intertidal, 2.IV.2004, J. A. de León (92 mm long, 8 mm wide, cephalic cage 8 mm long, 105 chaetigers; gonopodial lobes not seen; 7 notochaetae in chaetiger 11). — 6 paratypes ( UANL), 1 complete, 5 with the anterior end variously exposed, Punta Cerritos (23°18’26.6”N, 106°27’21.3”W), Mazatlán, Sinaloa, Mexico, mixed shore, intertidal, 22.III.2006, M. E. García & J. A. de León (complete one 69 mm long, 5 mm wide, cephalic cage 6 mm long, 98 chaetigers; gonopodial lobes not seen; 5 notochaetae in chaetiger 11).

ADDITIONAL MATERIAL. — Eastern Pacific Ocean. 2 juvenile specimens ( ECOSUR), La Manzanilla (20°44’35”N, 105°23’14.8”W), La Cruz de Huanacaxtle , Nayarit, Mexico, 29.XI.2004, P. Salazar (5 mm long, 0.8-1.0 mm wide, cephalic cage 1.0- 1.5 mm long, 34-42 chaetigers; first neurohooks in chaetiger 5; 4 notochaetae in chaetiger 11). — 2 specimens ( LACM-AHF 2501 ), R/ V Velero IV, stn 2603 (27°41’06”N, 114°53’38”W), 1.1 mile N-NE Kelp Point (Punta Sargazo), Port San Bartolomé (Bahía Tortugas), shore, rocks, 11.II.1954 (50-90 mm long, 8-10 mm wide, cephalic cage 11-12 mm long, 86-90 chaetigers). — 8 specimens ( LACM-AHF 2502 ), San Quintin Bay , Baja California, Mexico, mud flats, 4.VII.1950, D. J. Reish (complete 76-82 mm long, 8-12 mm wide, cephalic cage 9-13 mm long, 75-98 chaetigers). — 1 specimen ( USNM 1132096 ), broken in 2 pieces, Stony Island, Scammon Lagoon, Baja California, Mexico, 21.XII.1971, D. L. Bostie (68 mm long, 12 mm wide, cephalic cage 12 mm long, 82 chaetigers) .

TYPE LOCALITY. — Playa Careyeros, Sayulita, Nayarit, Mexico.

DISTRIBUTION. — The species has representatives in the eastern Pacific shores, from southern California and Baja California to Sayulita, Nayarit. It thrives in mixed beaches with rocky outcrops and sand, living within the sediments in intertidal to shallow subtidal depths.

ETYMOLOGY. — This species is being named after Dr Patricia Salazar-Silva, friend and colleague, in recognition of her research on polynoid polychaetes, and especially because she collected some of the type specimens and kindly donated them to ECOSUR.

DESCRIPTION

Holotype (ECOSUR-116) blackish, club-shaped, many chaetae broken ( Fig. 26A ); body cylindrical, rounded, blunt anteriorly, tapering posteriorly, 91 mm long, 8 mm wide, cephalic cage (slightly broken) 8 mm long, 107 chaetigers. Tunic rugose, maculated, without sediment particles ( Fig. 26B, C ). Body papillae partially eroded, capitate, without sediment particles, short to very short (frequently eroded), arranged in three to four irregular, alternating transverse rows per segment (better seen in posterior chaetigers); longitudinal rows not visible; pigment in small rounded black spots of varying size.

Anterior end not exposed in holotype. Description based on paratypes ( UANL) exposing their anterior end. Cephalic hood short, smooth, margin smooth. Prostomium low, pale. Eyes blackish. Caruncle blackish, well developed, extended along the full, branchial plate length ; median keel blackish, lateral ridges pale, elevated ( Fig. 26E ). Palps pale, reddish-brown, thick, slightly longer than branchial plate, apparently depressed, with a cylindrical narrow stem and large, markedly ruffled, lateral wings ( Fig. 26C, D ). Lateral lips well developed, dorsal and ventral lips reduced; distorted into a flat plate in two paratypes. Branchiae pale, cirriform, sessile on a distally cleft, tongue-like protuberance, arranged in two lateral groups, in 7-8 parallel rows, with about 160 filaments per group; filaments longer basally, longest about as long as palps. Nephridial lobes pale, placed over the external, basal corner of the branchial plate.

Cephalic cage chaetae as long as body width. Chaetigers 1-2 involved in the cephalic cage; chaetae arranged in short dorsolateral, or lateral series, chaetiger 1 with 11 noto- and eight neurochaetae, chaetiger 2 with nine noto- and eight neurochaetae per side. Anterior dorsal margin of first chaetiger rounded, without projections (less contracted paratypes UANL with a short triangular projection, with small papillae). Anterior chaetigers with papillae of about the same size than those present throughout the body. Chaetigers 1-3 progressively slightly longer. Chaetal transition from cephalic cage to body chaetae abrupt; first anchylosed neurohooks present in chaetiger 5. Gonopodial lobes not seen.

Parapodia poorly developed, chaetae emerging from the body wall. Parapodia lateral, median neuropodia ventrolateral. Notopodia with two slighlty larger papillae, one basal, the other lateral, longest papillae about 1⁄₅-1⁄₆ as long as notochaetae. Neuropodia with papillae about as long as notopodial ones.

Median notochaetae arranged in short, transverse series, 7-8 notochaetae per bundle, about as long as 1⁄₅-1⁄₆ body width; all notochaetae multiarticulated, each with short articles in a small basal portion, then medium-sized, becoming markedly longer only distally ( Fig. 26F , insert). Neurochaetae multiarticulated capillaries in chaetigers 1-4, falcate anchylosed neurohooks from chaetiger 5, arranged in transverse series ( Fig. 26G ), five per bundle in most chaetigers, only four in far posterior chaetigers, subdistally slightly expanded; short rings extending along ⅔-4⁄₅ of the hook, blade paler, slightly compressed, thinner than handle, with tips slightly incurved, entire.

Posterior end tapering to a blunt, rounded lobe ( Fig. 26A ); pygidium with anus terminal, without anal cirri.

Variation

The juveniles resemble the adults by lacking any sediment particle over the body and by having a thin woolly layer surrounding individual papillae and neurohooks from chaetiger 5. The typical sensory papillae are arranged as four dorsal and four ventral papillae, forming longitudinal series. Furthermore, the palps are exposed in one juvenile and they are not foliose as in the adults; they are rather cylindrical with a well-developed midventral groove.

REMARKS

Trophoniella salazarae n. sp. resembles T. jareckiorum n. sp. from the Caribbean Sea, as both have an opaque tunic without sediment particles. They differ especially regarding the tunic pigmentation, notochaetal number and type of articulation; thus, in T. salazarae n. sp. the tunic is blackish, whereas it is whitish in T. jareckiorum n. sp. There are more notochaetae in T. salazarae n. sp. (5-8 per bundle) than in T. jareckiorum n. sp. (4-5 per bundle), and the longer articles are restricted to the distal portion, whereas there are long articles in the median and distal portions of T. jareckiorum n. sp. notochaetae. On the other hand, T. salazarae n. sp. resembles T. minuta n. comb. but they differ in the number of notochaetae per bundle, being 7-8 in T. salazarae n. sp. and about 10 in T. minuta n. comb.

Figures

FIG. 26. — Trophoniella salazarae n. sp.: A, holotype (ECOSUR-116), lateral view; B, same, anterior end, lateral view; C, paratype (ECOSUR), anterior end, lateral view, head partially exposed; D, same, anterior end, frontal view; E, another paratype (UANL), head, frontal view, palps and many branchiae detached; F, holotype, chaetiger 12, notopodium (insert showing notochaetal basal, medial and distal regions); G, same, chaetiger 12, neurochaetae. Scale bars: A, 3.5 mm; B, 1.8 mm; C, 1.3 mm; D, 1.8 mm; E, 0.67 mm; F, 0.45 mm; G, 120 µm.