Odontosyllis fulgurans ( Audouin & Milne Edwards 1834 )

Salcedo, Diana L., Martín, Guillermo San & Solís-Weiss, Vivianne, 2016, Eusyllinae, Exogoninae and Autolytinae (Syllidae: Polychaeta) from the Southern Mexican Pacific, with the description of three new species, Zootaxa 4158 (4), pp. 507-522 : 509-510

Odontosyllis fulgurans ( Audouin & Milne Edwards 1834)

Odontosyllis fulgurans: Audouin & Milne Edwards, 1834: 229 .─ Pettibone, 1963: 122, Fig. 35c.─ Imajima & Hartman, 1964: 113.— San Martín, 1984: 93 –97, Fig. 14.— Capa et al. 2000: 3.─ San Martín, 2003: 104 –106, Figs 46–47.

Material examined. 2 specimens (CNAP–ICML PO-37-101): 1 specimen, Palmitas E2B1, 16°42.420’N, 99°54.733’W, 25 May 2006, 10.5 m, coarse sand. 1 specimen, El Jardín E3B1, 16°49.436’N, 99°54.981’W, 26 May 2006, 12 m, coarse sand.

Comparative material examined. Odontosyllis fulgurans dolerens : 1 specimen ( MNCN 16.01 /11457), Panama: Granito de Oro Island , Chiriquí Gulf, Pacific Ocean, 3 m . Odontosyllis fulgurans : 1 specimen ( MNCN 16.01 /7604), Spain: Sas Caló des Moro, Ibiza Island , Baleares, Mediterranean Sea.

Remarks. According to Westheide (1974), the subspecies Odontosyllis fulgurans dolerens is very similar to Odontosyllis fulgurans fulgurans , but separated as a subspecies by the remarkable color pattern of the former. Both specimens herein examined lack a marked color pattern, so they have been identified as O. fulgurans . It is noteworthy that the color pattern should not be used as a unique character to distinguish species, since it can be absent depending on the way in which the specimens were preserved. Both subspecies may constitute a single species since, in other studies, specimens with and without pigmentation have been found together in the same sample ( Capa 2003). It will probably be necessary to examine specimens in vivo in order to analyze the variation in that character. On the other hand, other species similar to O. fulgurans have been described from Brazilian littorals: Odontosyllis guillermoi Fukuda & Nogueira 2006 and Odontosyllis aracaensis Fukuda et al. 2013 . Like O. fulgurans , O. guillermoi lacks a pigmentation pattern, but it has a shorter occipital flap and up to five aciculae (instead of two) in each anterior parapodium. Odontosyllis aracaensis resembles O. fulgurans in the morphology of the trepan and proventricle and in the shape of the aciculae, but the latter has a characteristic color pattern and falcigers with the subdistal tooth smaller than the distal one.

Habitat. Mesolittoral, subtidal and circumlittoral; between algae at shallow depths; in coralline bottoms; under rocks in intertidal pools; between mussels, sea squirts and sponges; in medium to coarse sand; in Posidonia oceanica rhizomes and in calcareous algae concretions.

Distribution. Mediterranean Sea, Japan, Galapagos Islands, Pacific coast of Panama, Southern Mexican Pacific (Acapulco Bay).