Levinsenia materi Çinar & Dagli 2013

Erdoğan-Dereli, Deniz & Çinar, Melih Ertan, 2021, Levinsenia species (Annelida: Polychaeta: Paraonidae) from the Sea of Marmara with descriptions of two new species, Zootaxa 4908 (2), pp. 151-180 : 162-166

Levinsenia materi Çinar & Dagli 2013

( Figures 9–11 )

Levinsenia materi Çinar & Dagli 2013: 941–945 , Figs 11–12 .

Material examined. ESFM-POL/2013-39 , 6 June 2013, Y1, 40°00’27’’N, 26°13’24’’E, 10 m, mud, 1 specimen ; ESFM-POL/2013-1288 , 06 June 2013, Y1, 40°00’32’’N, 26°13’04’’E, 25 m, mud, 1 specimen ; ESFM-POL/2013- 48 , 06 June 2013, Y2, 40°06’28’’N, 26°22’51’’E, 10 m, mud with shell fragments, 4 specimens ; ESFM-POL/2013- 54 , 6 June 2013, Y2, 40°06’32’’N, 26°22’31’’E, 25m, mud with pebbles, 3 specimens ; ESFM-POL/2013-1291 , 06 June 2013, Y2, 40°06’59’’N, 26°22’04’’E, 50 m, muddy sand, 2 specimens ; ESFM-POL/2013-70 , 06 June 2013, Y3, 40°12’15’’N, 26°26’12’’E, 25 m, mud, 6 specimens ; ESFM-POL/2013-1367 , 07 June 2013, Y4, 40°17’36’’N, 26°35’51’’E, 10 m, on Pomatoceros triqueter aggregation, 1 specimen ; ESFM-POL/2013-80 , 07 June 2013, Y4, 40°17’49’’N, 26°35’44’’E, 25 m, maerl bed, 5 specimens ; ESFM-POL/2013-1109 , 07 June 2013, Y4, 40°18’09’’N, 26°35’15’’E, 50 m, sand, 1 specimen ; ESFM-POL/2013-90 , 07 June 2013, Y5, 40°20’55’’N, 26°40’38’’E, 25 m, mud, 4 specimens ; ESFM-POL/2013-1110 , 07 June 2013, Y7, 40°24’28’’N, 26°51’24’’E, 25 m, maerl bed, 6 specimens ; ESFM-POL/2013-1111 , 07 June 2013, Y8, 40°25’15’’N, 27°03’49’’E, 10 m, mud, 63 specimens ; ESFM-POL/2013-1114 , 08 June 2013, Y9, 40°26’25’’N, 27°11’29’’E, 25 m, mud, 2 specimens ; ESFM-POL/2013- 1115 , 08 June 2013, Y9, 40°28’09’’N, 27°11’14’’E, 50 m, mud, 2 specimens ; ESFM-POL/2013-1117 , 09 June 2013, Y17, 40°39’16’’N, 27°41’14’’E, 25 m, fine sand, 14 specimens ; ESFM-POL/2013-1026 , 09 June 2013, Y17, 40°39’58’’N, 27°41’08’’E, 50 m, mud with Amphiura filiformis , 1 specimen ; ESFM-POL/2013-1120 , 12 June 2013, Y19, 40°56’10’’N, 27°44’16’’E, 100 m, muddy sand, 11 specimens ; ESFM-POL/2013-1122 , 15 June 2013, Y21, 40°29’54’’N, 27°58’28’’E, 25 m, sandy mud with shell fragments, 2 specimens ; ESFM-POL/2013- 1123 , 16 June 2013, Y24, 41°03’08’’N, 28°08’44’’E, 25 m, muddy sand with Lithothamnion sp., 2 specimens ; ESFM-POL/2013-670 , 16 June 2013, Y24, 41°00’16’’N, 28°07’50’’E, 50 m, muddy sand with shell fragment, 8 specimens ; ESFM-POL/2013-1126 , 17 June 2013, Y29, 40°32’34’’N, 28°46’53’’E, 25 m, sandy mud with Lithothamnion sp., 1 specimen ; ESFM-POL/2013-1127 , 17 June 2013, Y29, 40°32’39’’N, 28°46’42’’E, 50 m, muddy sand, 3 specimens ; ESFM-POL/2013-1129 , 14 June 2013, Y31, 40°01’44’’N, 28°26’31’’E, 10 m, sand with shell fragments, 1 specimen ; ESFM-POL/2013-1130 , 24 June 2013, Y35, 40°57’22’’N, 28°58’21’’E, 50 m, mud, 4 specimens ; ESFM-POL/2013-1131 , 21 June 2013, Y38, 40°46’12’’N, 29°17’21’’E, 100 m, mud, 1 specimen ; ESFM-POL/2013-1132, 20 June 2013, Y41, 40°42’42’’N, 29°25’20’’E, 50 m, mud, 5 specimens; ESFM-POL/2013-1133 , 20 June 2013, Y41, 40°43’18’’N, 29°24’58’’E, 100 m, mud, 5 specimens ; ESFM-POL/2013-1028 , 20 June 2013, Y42, 40°45’43’’N- 29°29’39’’E, 50 m, sandy mud with shell fragments, 3 specimens ; ESFM-POL/2013-1189 , 26 June 2013, Y50, 41°12’16’’N, 29°07’25’’E, 10 m, sand, 1 specimen .

Description. All specimens incomplete, 7.9– 27 mm long, 12.9–0.24 mm wide, with 51–111 chaetigers. Color in alcohol usually light yellow. Body long, stout, anterio-dorsal side slightly swollen, posterior part of body stout; with a black tube ( Fig. 9A ).

Prostomium conical, longer than its width (ratio length / width: 1.6); anterior part more or less truncated, with an eversible palpode; with two distinct annulations, without eyes ( Figs 9B ; 10 A–C). A pair of nuchal organs as long, wide, vertically placed on dorso-lateral sides of posterior part of prostomium; without cilia and pigmentation ( Fig. 10 B–C). Cheek organ and lateral organ absent. Cilia patches (cp) as a vertical slit with cilia, present on lateral sides of prostomium ( Fig. 10 C–D).

Peristomium indistinct on dorsal and lateral sides, only discernable under SEM, partly fused with anterior margin of chaetiger 1 on dorsal side ( Fig. 10 A–C). Mouth with three buccal lips; two placed anteriorly and one placed posteriorly with six longitudinal folds, extending to anterior margin of chaetiger 1; proboscis without lobes.

Branchiae 14–16 pairs, beginning on chaetiger 8, first and last pairs relatively short ( Figs 9 A–B; 10A); flattened dorso-ventrally, lanceolate, with a rounded tip; dense ciliary bands present on both sides of outer margin of branchiae; 164 μm long in anterior part, 178 μm long in middle part, 150 μm long in posterior part of branchial region.

Interramal lobes and notopodial papilla absent. Branchiae fused to notopodia, merging degree decreasing from anterior to posterior part of branchial region ( Fig. 11 A–C). Notopodial postchaetal lobes short and cirriform on first seven chaetigers; relatively long and digitiform between chaetigers 8–22 (emerging on branchiae in branchial region); indistinct in posterior region. Neuropodial postchaetal lobes absent.

Lateral sense organs present on all chaetigers, located between notopodia and neuropodia, just posterior to notopodial postchaetal lobes; elliptical with irregularly clustered pores in middle part of branchial region, straight line-shaped with regularly clustered pores from posterior part of branchial region to end of body ( Fig. 11B, D ); with 17–20 pores (long axis: 5–6 μm) in branchial region, with 28–30 pores (length of lateral sense organ: 10.5–11 μm) in posterior region.

Three types of chaetae present: limbate, capillary and modified neurochaetae.

Limbate chaetae present in notopodia from chaetiger 1 to chaetiger 20–26 and in neuropodia from chaetiger 1 to chaetigers 22–27, long, thin and straight with fibrils along edge (hirsute), positioning straight, colorless; in notopodia, numbering 7–14, arranged in 2–3 rows, ca. 183 µm long; in neuropodia, numbering 6–15, arranged in 2–3 rows, ca. 195 µm long.

Capillary chaetae starting from chaetiger 20–27 to end of body; in middle notopodia, numbering 8–10 in each ramus, two rows and ca. 150 μm long; in posterior notopodia, numbering 3–5 in each ramus, one row and ca. 156 μm long; in middle neuropodia, numbering 10–12 in each ramus, two rows and ca. 136 μm long and in posterior neuropodia, numbering 2–4 in each ramus, one row and ca. 120 μm long.

Modified neuropodial chaetae starting from chaetigers 20–27 to posterior chaetiger; numbering 4 in each neuropodium, arranged in one row, superior chaetae relatively straight and long, inferior chaetae much shorter and curved, about 60 μm long, thin, blade shaped, slightly curved near terminal region, with a pointed tip; rudimentary, fibrillar hood on convex side, with a naked tip ( Figs 9C ; 11D ).

Pygidium missing.

Reproduction. Some specimens of Levinsenia materi with gametes were found in the Sea of Marmara. Eggs usually first occurred at chaetiger 37 and continued to the posterior end, and numbered six between chaetigers 37 and 42, and eight afterwards. The egg diameter varied between 54 and 118 μm. In male specimens, sperm packages occurred at chaetigers 45–51 and numbered two packages per chaetiger ( Fig 9A ).

Çinar & Dagli (2013) reported egg carrying specimens of this species in August and September in the Aegean Sea and noted the egg diameter ranging from 38 to 80 μm ( Çinar & Dagli 2013).

Remarks. The specimens of Levinsenia materi from the Sea of Marmara are morphologically identical to the original description of the species. However, we found 2–3 more branchial pairs in the larger specimens herein described, which might be a size-related character. The cilia patches (cp) on the prostomium, which were noted by Lovell & Fitzhugh (2020) on Levinsenia barwicki Lovell & Fitzhugh 2020 , were only observed on L. materi among the Levinsenia species found in the Sea of Marmara.

Habitat and Distribution. The specimens of Levinsenia materi in the Sea of Marmara were found on soft substrata at 10 and 100 m depths. Çinar & Dagli (2013) reported this species at 19–37 m depth on soft substrata and Posidonia oceanica meadows in the Aegean Sea.

Figures

FIGURE 9. Levinsenia materi (ESFM-POL/2013-1113). A, General view of body with a black tube; B, Later view of anterior end of body; C, Modified neurochaetae from posterior chaetiger. Scale bar: A, 500 µm; B, 261 µm; C, 14 µm. Abbreviation: sp, sperm packages within coelomic cavity.

FIGURE 10. Levinsenia materi (ESFM-POL/2013-1111). A, Lateral view of anterior end of body; B, Anterio-dorsal view of prostomium and first chaetigers; C, Lateral view of prostomium; D, Ciliated patch on lateral sides of prostomium. Scale bar: A, 293 µm; B, 152 µm; C, 72 µm; D, 11 µm. Abbreviations: a, annulation; cp, ciliated patch; no, nuchal organ.

FIGURE 11. Levinsenia materi (ESFM-POL/2013-1111). A, Lateral view of first two branchial chaetigers; B, Lateral view of second branchial chaetiger, with notopodial postchaetal lob emerging on branchiae; C, Lateral view of middle branchial region; D, Parapodium from posterior region with modified neurochaetae, notopodial postchaetal lobe and lateral sense organ. Scale bar: A, 51 µm; B, 16 µm; C, 42 µm; D, 19 µm. Abbreviations: ant, anterior region; bran, branchiae; lso, lateral sense organ; ntpcl, notopodial postchaetal lobe; post, posterior region.

FIGURE 12. Levinsenia tribranchiata (ESFM-POL/2013-1175). A, General view of body, stained with Shirlastain-A; B, Dor- sal view of anterior part of body, stained with Shirlastain-A; C, Modified neurochaeta from posterior chaetiger. Scale bar: A, 575 µm; B, 240 µm; C, 34 µm.