Pseudovermilia occidentalis ( McIntosh, 1885 )

Bastida-Zavala, J. Rolando, McCANN, Linda D., Keppel, Erica & Ruiz, Gregory M., 2017, The fouling serpulids (Polychaeta: Serpulidae) from United States coastal waters: an overview, European Journal of Taxonomy 344, pp. 1-76 : 46-48

Pseudovermilia occidentalis ( McIntosh, 1885)

Figs 7G , 8

Spirobranchus occidentalis McIntosh, 1885: 529–530 , pl. 55, fig. 10, pl. 29a, figs 31–32 (type locality: off the Bermudas, western Atlantic; 795 m, coral mud, on tube of Placostegus assimilis McIntosh, 1885 ).

Pseudovermilia pileum Bush, 1907: 136 (type locality: Bermuda).

Vermiliopsis hawaiiensis Treadwell, 1943: 3 , figs 14–15 (type locality: Hawaii).

Vermiliopsis cornuta Rioja, 1947b: 525–526 , figs 14–21 (type locality: La Paz, Baja California Sur, Gulf of California).

Vermiliopsis acanthophora (non Augener 1914) – Monro 1933: 1085 (James Island, Galápagos; 9–11 m; in clean sand and weed).

Vermiliopsis multiannulata (non Moore 1923) – Hartman 1969: 781–782, figs 1–2 (central and southern California).

Pseudovermilia occidentalis – Zibrowius 1970: 9 –11, pl. 2, figs 1–11, 15–16 (São Sebastião, Ubatuba, Rios de Janeiro, Fernando de Noronha Island, Pernambuco, Lizxa Reef and Abrolhos Archipelago, Brazil; 1–120 m; in sand with rocky bottoms, shell debris, corals and gorgonians). — ten Hove 1975: 59–72, figs 114–123, 144–145, 155–156, 159, 161–164, 170–172, pls 1, 2a–e, 3, 7 (synonymy; Hawaii, southern California, Georgia, Florida, Gulf of Mexico, Galápagos, Panama, Bermuda, Mexican Caribbean, Honduras, Bahamas, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Lesser Antilles, Netherlands Antilles, Tobago, Suriname, Brazil,? Azores,? Portugal, Senegal, Gulf of Guinea, St. Helena Island and Red Sea; sublittoral to 720 m; on the corals Astrangia , Madracis , Phyllangia americana Milne Edwards & Haime, 1849 , on the sponge Stromatospongia vermicola Hartman, 1969 ). — ten Hove & Wolf 1984: 55: 31, figs 55–25, 55–26a–j (western Florida and Alabama; 19– 75 m; coarse and silty sand). — Díaz 1994: 618 ( Barbados, settlement and succession; 10 m; coral plates, Obicella annularis ). — ten Hove & San Martín 1995: 17 (de la Juventud Island, Cuba; 1–6 m; on mollusk shells, mangrove roots, rocks, corals and wood debris). — Perkins 1998: 95 (checklist of shallow-water polychaetes from Florida). — Bastida-Zavala & Salazar-Vallejo 2000a: 820, fig. 8r–u (Diego Pérez Key, Cuba, and eastern Mexico: Champotón Beach and Campeche Bank, Campeche; Alacranes Key, Arenas Key and Ría Lagartos, Yucatán; Nichupté Lagoon, Nizuc Point, Aventuras Beach, Xcacel Beach, Xcayal Beach, Allen Point, Majagual Reef, Contoy Island, Cozumel Island and Chinchorro Bank, Quintana Roo; intertidal to 230 m; on rocks, the coral Acropora , the sponges Clathria calla (de Laubenfels, 1934) and Agelas dispar Duchassaing & Michelotti, 1864 , seagrass and algae). — Bastida-Zavala 2008: 40 –42, figs 9H–I (Mexican Pacific: Baja California Sur and Oaxaca; intertidal to 7 m; on rocks, mixed beaches, the coral Pocillopora , epifauna of the sea urchin Eucidaris and the bivalve Spondylus calcifer Carpenter, 1857 ), now Spondylus limbatus G.B. Sowerby II, 1847). — Bastida-Zavala et al. 2016: 431 –432, figs 7, 13C (Mexican Pacific: Baja California Sur, Michoacán and Oaxaca; 2–9 m; on sabellariid colonies and the coral Pocillopora damicornis ).

Material examined

Three specimens: BB (3) Aug. 2004.

Diagnosis

Tube white; with longitudinal and transverse ridges, sometimes with peristomes; alveoli absent. Opercular peduncle smooth, white. Operculum with fleshy, bulbous part and distal, black horny cap ( Fig. 7G ); latter with several internal septa. Collar with bundles of few chaetae, chaetae limbate. Thorax with “ Apomatus ” chaetae occurring from third chaetiger onwards. Thoracic uncini with anterior bifurcate tooth.

Taxonomic remarks

Pseudovermilia occidentalis is very common in the Caribbean Sea ( ten Hove 1975) and the tropical eastern Pacific ( Bastida-Zavala 2008). The species has a wide distribution; however, ten Hove (1975) noted that the populations from the Atlantic and the Pacific differ subtly in some tube, peduncle and operculum characters. Thus a thorough review of these populations is necessary.

Ecology

Intertidal to 250 m; rare and the deepest records (300–895 m) are considered doubtful ( ten Hove 1975). On rocky and mixed bottoms, with seagrass and algae, on tubes of Placostegus assimilis (doubtful according to ten Hove 1975), tubes of sabellariid polychaetes, epibionts on spines of the sea urchin Eucidaris , shells of the bivalve Spondylus limbatus , the corals Astrangia , Madracis , Phyllangia americana , Acropora , Pocillopora damicornis , the sponges Stromatospongia vermicola , Clathria calla and Agelas dispar , and also on coral plates of Orbicella annularis ( ten Hove 1975; Díaz 1994; Bastida-Zavala & Salazar-Vallejo 2000a; Bastida-Zavala 2008).

Distribution

Amphi-American and Amphi-Atlantic. Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean Sea, Georgia ( United States) to Brazil, Gulf of Guinea, Cabo Verde and Santa Helena Islands; California, Mexican Pacific to Galapagos, Hawaii ( ten Hove 1975; Bastida-Zavala 2008). In this study, only three specimens of Pseudovermilia occidentalis were found, on fouling plates from Biscayne Bay, Florida ( Fig. 8 ).

Figures

Fig. 7. Serpulids from United States fouling plates. Pomatostegus stellatus. A. Operculum, from Biscayne Bay, Florida (SERC-118825). – Protula balboensis. B–D. Tube, body and branchial crown, white arrow shows detail of rounded processes, Biscayne Bay, Florida (SERC-118825). E. Body of live adult from Smithsonian Institution station in Bocas del Toro, Panama (photo by Betel Martínez- Guerrero). – Pseudochitinopoma occidentalis. F. Operculum, Puget Sound, Washington (SERC- 33385R). – Pseudovermilia occidentalis. G. Operculum, Biscayne Bay, Florida (SERC-118450). – Salmacina huxleyi. H–I. Tubes, body and collar chaetae, Biscayne Bay, Florida (SERC-118449). – S. tribranchiata. J. Body, Galapagos Island (SERC-233687).

Fig. 8. Distribution of serpulids (Pomatostegus, Protula, Pseudochitinopoma and Pseudovermilia spp.) from United States fouling plates (closed symbols) and literature records (open symbols).