Crucigera websteri Benedict, 1887

Bastida-Zavala, J. Rolando, 2008, Serpulids (Annelida: Polychaeta) from the Eastern Pacific, including a brief mention of Hawaiian serpulids, Zootaxa 1722, pp. 1-61 : 16-17

Crucigera websteri Benedict, 1887

( Figures 4C–D)

Crucigera Websteri Benedict, 1887: 550–551 , pl. 21, figs. 24–25; pl. 22, figs. 26–30. Type locality: 29º16’30”N, 85º32’W, off Florida, USA.

Crucigera websteri .— ten Hove and Jansen-Jacobs, 1984: 155–160, figs. 3a, 4j–l, 5a, 6a–e, 7a–k, 10e, 12 (revision of the genus).

Material examined. Six specimens: California ( USA), LACM-AHF s.n. (33º28–40’N, 119º00–30’W, 1.6 km off east side of Santa Barbara Island, Velero III, sta. 1409, Blake trawl, sand, sea urchins, 37–73 m, Sept. 15, 1941, as Serpula n. sp.?); LACM-AHF s.n. (33º35–36’N, 117º52–53’W, Newport Harbour, Balboa Peninsula, “bay side, floats off Fred Lewi’s Landing”, Velero III, sta. 1449, intertidal, “collected off harbour floats and piles from a skiff”, March 13, 1942, as Serpula ); LACM-AHF N8819 (approx. 32º42’N, 118º17’W, San Pedro, California, no more data). Baja California Sur ( Mexico), UANL 357 (approx. 24º47’N, 112º18’W, Cabo San Lazaro, Bahia Magdalena, April 1988, coll. JALG). Guerrero ( Mexico), SV-pc (16º50’33”N, 99º54’39”W, Punta Manzanillo, Acapulco, Aug. 4, 1988, coll. SISV). Oaxaca ( Mexico), UMAR-Poly 50 (15º51’N, 97º04’W, Puerto Escondido, on Spondylus calcifer , M20, 6– 10 m, July 4, 2004, coll. SS).

Diagnosis. Tube smooth, thin, lacks longitudinal ridges (but see Remarks), peristomes or alveoli. Opercular peduncle smooth, white to light brown. Base of operculum with four digitate processes. Operculum as almost bilaterally symmetrical funnel; funnel with 43–52 radii with rounded tips ( Figs 4C–D). Collar with bayonet chaetae, with 2–3 blunt-long teeth, distal blade smooth.

Habitat. Depth: Intertidal to 73 m; ten Hove and Jansen-Jacobs (1984) recorded 2– 86 m. Occasionally as fouling species. On spiny oyster Spondylus calcifer .

Distribution. Amphi-American. From Florida and Gulf of Mexico to Brazil; California to Panama ( ten Hove & Jansen-Jacobs 1984).

Taxonomic remarks. Crucigera websteri was described from the Gulf of Mexico; however, the specimens from the Eastern Pacific revised here agreed with the description of ten Hove and Jansen-Jacobs (1984). They compared specimens from Atlantic with Panama and Californian specimens and concluded that they all belong to the same species.

Remarks. One specimen (LACM-AHF 1409–41) has a tube with three sinuous longitudinal ridges; another from the intertidal zone (LACM-AHF 144–42) has a flat funnel, with 48 radii.