Prosphaerosyllis marmarae Cinar , Dagli & Acik , 2011

Faulwetter, Sarah, Chatzigeorgiou, Georgios, Galil, Bella S. & Arvanitidis, Christos, 2011, An account of the taxonomy and distribution of Syllidae (Annelida, Polychaetes) in the eastern Mediterranean, with notes on the genus Prosphaerosyllis San Martin, 1984 in the Mediterranean, ZooKeys 150, pp. 281-326 : 288-289

Prosphaerosyllis marmarae Cinar, Dagli & Acik, 2011

Prosphaerosyllis marmarae Çinar et al. 2011: 2118, figs 2-4.

Material examined.

Haifa Bay, Israel: ALA-IL-2 (3 ind.), ALA-IL-8 (12 ind.) [coll. 31.5.2009]; ALA-IL-7 (4 ind.) [coll. 11.10.2009].

Comparative material examined.

Prosphaerosyllis marmarae (Department of Hydrobiology, Ege University, Izmir, Turkey, Paratype: 1 individual [Label: Prosphaerosyllis marmarae , Paratype]). Prosphaerosyllis laubieri ( Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris, Holotype MNHN POLY TYPE 1525, Chausey Islands, France: 1 individual [Label: HOLOTYPE MNHN Paris 1525, Chausey B1 AM12, Prosphaerosyllis sp. B, Holotype et SEM]).

Type locality.

Erdek, Marmara Sea (eastern Mediterranean).

Distribution.

Mediterranean Sea: LB, Marmara Sea. New record for the Israeli coast.

Habitat.

Until 17 m depth, in muddy sand ( Çinar et al. 2011), in coarse and mixed sand (this study).

Remarks

. The specimens from Israel agree with the material of Çinar et al. (2011), except for the absence of eyespots (might be de-colourised due to fixation). The recently described Prosphaerosyllis laubieri Olivier et al. 2011 is very similar to Prosphaerosyllis marmarae . Both species have eyespots, strongly papillated palps, short, retractile antennae and dorsal cirri, pharynx and proventriculum each through 4 segments and short (8-10 µm) blades of falcigers. These two species differ however in the following characteristics: a) Prosphaerosyllis laubieri has small, scattered papillae all over the dorsum, in Prosphaerosyllis marmarae they are restricted to the lateral margins, near the dorsal cirri; b) cirrostyles of antennae and dorsal cirri of Prosphaerosyllis marmarae are much shorter (1/4 of total length) than those of Prosphaerosyllis laubieri (1/3 of total length) and appear as small, retracted caps; c) dorsal cirri of Prosphaerosyllis laubieri possess a small papilla at distal end of cirrophore (not reported by Olivier et al. 2011); d) falcigerous blades of Prosphaerosyllis marmarae are stouter than those of Prosphaerosyllis laubieri and serrated only at their bases (serrated all along cutting edge in Prosphaerosyllis laubieri ). Prosphaerosyllis riseri Perkins, 1981 from Florida shares with Prosphaerosyllis marmarae the shape of the dorsal cirri and antennae (short and strongly retracted), however, its palps are less densely papillated. Prosphaerosyllis sp. A ( San Martín 1991b) from Cuba has strongly papillated palps, but no cirri on chaetiger 2 and longer dorsal cirri.

Specimens from the Red Sea described by Ben-Eliahu (1977a) as Sphaerosyllis brevicirra Hartmann-Schröder, 1960 do not belong to this species (see Discussion section), but might in fact belong to Prosphaerosyllis marmarae . The morphological characteristics of her specimens agree very well wth those of Prosphaerosyllis marmarae (papillated palps, presence of eyespots, minute (19.5 µm), retractile cirri, falcigerous blades short (7.8 µm), proventriculum longer than proboscis (through 4 segments), no discernible dorsal papillation). Differences can be found in the cutting edge of the falcigerous blades which are smooth in the Red Sea specimens, whereas those of Prosphaerosyllis marmarae are serrated. However, due to the size of the blades (8 µm) this is a feature difficult to observe under an optical microscope and might have been overlooked. The material of the species described by Ben-Eliahu was not examined during this study, therefore it can only tentatively proposed to be assigned to Prosphaerosyllis marmarae .