Serpula vittata Augener, 1914

Kupriyanova, Elena K., Sun, Yanan, Ten Hove, Harry A., Wong, Eunice & Rouse, Greg W., 2015, Serpulidae (Annelida) of Lizard Island, Great Barrier Reef, Australia, Zootaxa 4019 (1), pp. 275-353 : 321-323

Serpula vittata Augener, 1914

( Fig. 24 A )

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 1993 b: 18 –19, fig. 1 e, table 1 [Okinawa, Japan; in living coral]; Kupriyanova et al. 2008: 95, fig. 1 E [Lizard Island, Qld; DNA data, colour photo]; ten Hove & Kupriyanova 2009: 8, fig. 1 C [colour photo].

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

Serpula palauense Imajima, 1982: 40 –42, fig. 2 a –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.G 242, east lagoon near Bird Islet, coll. G. Rouse & E. Kupriyanova, 1 Nov 2005; AM W. 42056, stn.G 244, off South Island, coll. G. Rouse & E. Kupriyanova, 2 Nov 2005; AM W. 45063, MI QLD 2413 (tube); SAM E 3594, stn.G 236, 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. 2 a), in our material the operculum occasionally is globular only, with 6 longitudinal grooves (probably still developing from the pseudoperculum; Fig. 24 A ). From the diagnosis of the tube by Straughan ( 1967 a: 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.

Figures

FIGURE 24. A. Serpula vittata, live specimen in tube, stn. G 236, SAM E 3594; B. S. watsoni removed from tube, stn. G 235, AM W. 42062; C. Serpula sp. 1 in tube, AM W. 45048; D. Serpula sp. 2 in tube, AM W. 45413. Photo: A, B—G. Rouse, C, D—A. Semenov. Scale bars: A – D = 1 mm.