Ficopomatus uschakovi ( Pillai, 1960 )

Bastida-Zavala, J. Rolando, Buelna, Alondra Sofía Rodríguez, León-González, Jesús Angel De, Camacho-Cruz, Karla Andrea & Carmona, Isabel, 2016, New records of sabellids and serpulids (Polychaeta: Sabellidae, Serpulidae) from the Tropical Eastern Pacific, Zootaxa 4184 (3), pp. 401-457 : 410-411

Ficopomatus uschakovi ( Pillai, 1960)

( Figures 3 , 10 G)

Neopomatus uschakovi Pillai, 1960: 28 –32, Text-figures 10H, 11A–H, 12A-H, plate I, Figs 1–2 . Type locality: Panadura River estuary, Madu Ganga estuary at Balapitiya and Ratgama Lake at Dodanduwa, Sri Lanka, on shells, stones, coconut leaves and “fish-kraals” (maybe a type of trap).

Ficopomatus uschakovi . — ten Hove & Weerdenburg 1978: 109–112, Figs 2 a–d, 3a, f–k, 4j–n, r, x–z, jj–mm, yy, 5d (revision); Okolodkov et al. 2007: 40 (as potential exotic species in the Mexican Pacific); de Assis et al. 2008: 51–58, Fig. 2 A–G ( Brazil) ; Bastida-Zavala 2009: 530, Figs 1 J–K, 5M (identification key for Tropical America); ten Hove & Kupriyanova 2009: 42 (worldwide serpulid checklist); Liñero-Arana & Díaz-Díaz 2012: 234–237, fig. 1a–j ( Venezuela); Bastida-Zavala & García-Madrigal 2012: 48–52, Figs 1 A-E, 2A-I (Chiapas, Mexican Pacific); Arteaga-Flórez et al. 2014: 1–11, Fig. 2 A- F (Colombian Caribbean); Bastida-Zavala et al. 2014: 325–326, Figs 19.1j–k (exotic in the Mexican Pacific).

Material examined. Several empty tubes. Tube white to brown or orange, sometimes covered by a dark film of green microalgae; with small to prominent peristomes, sometimes with low growth rings; lacks longitudinal ridges and alveoli ( Fig. 2 K).

Chiapas: UMAR-Poly 708-OH, empty tubes (La Encrucijada Lagoon, sta. 2, on wooden trunk, salinity= 19.39 PSU, August 28, 2014, coll. CPR).

Habitat. Intertidal to 1 m. In coastal lagoons, on mangrove roots and gastropod shells, with salinity range of 19.39–35 PSU ( Bastida-Zavala & García-Madrigal 2012). On shells, stones, coconut leaves and fish-kraals ( Pillai 1960). Fouling species, at least on PVC plates in the northern Gulf of Mexico (Bastida-Zavala, personal observation).

Distribution. Native to the Indo-West Pacific. Ficopomatus uschakovi was recorded as exotic from the Gulf of Guinea; in Sossego Creek, Brazil; in Morocoto Creek, Venezuela; in La Encrucijada Lagoon, Chiapas; and in Gulf of Urabá, Colombian Caribbean (ten Hove & Weerdenburg 1978; de Assis et al. 2008; Liñero-Arana & Díaz-Díaz 2012; Bastida-Zavala & García-Madrigal 2012; Arteaga-Flórez et al. 2014).

Remarks. Ficopomatus uschakovi was described in the monotypic genus Neopomatus Pillai, 1960 , based on a single autapomorphic character: fused thoracic membranes. Ten Hove & Weerdenburg (1978) revised five monotypic genera, including Neopomatus , morphologically rather similar ‒especially regarding the chaetation pattern‒ and occurring in brackish water, and synonymized them with the genus Ficopomatus . The decision to maintain Neopomatus ( Pillai 2008; Li et al. 2012) cannot be solved on the basis of morphological characters only, it is necessary to perform a phylogenetic analysis including both morphological and molecular characters (Elena Kupriyanova & Harry ten Hove, pers. comm. 2014).

Figures

FIGURE 1. Study area. The Tropical Eastern Pacific, Southern California and Hawaii, with main geographical names mentioned in text.

FIGURE 2. Distribution of the sabellids Branchiomma bairdi, Megalomma carunculata, Parasabella pallida and Pseudobranchiomma punctata in the Tropical Eastern Pacific, Southern California and Hawaii.

FIGURE 3. Distribution of Ficopomatus uschakovi, Crucigera websteri, Hydroides cf. amri, H. brachyacantha and H. crucigera.

FIGURE 10. Sabellids and serpulids in the Mexican Pacific. A. Branchiomma bairdi, anterior part; B – C. Megalomma carunculata, anterior part and caruncle; D. Parasabella pallida, anterior part; E – F. Pseudobranchiomma punctata, body and detail of abdominal section; G. Ficopomatus uschakovi, anterior part; H – I. Crucigera websteri, opercula, lateral and aboral side (colors in life and preserved).