Leonnates decipiens Fauvel, 1929

Yousefi, Shetav, Rahimian, Hasan, Nabavi, Seid Mohammad Bagher & Glasby, Christopher, 2011, Nereididae (Annelida: Polychaeta) from intertidal habitats in the Gulf of Oman, Iran, Zootaxa 3013, pp. 48-64 : 50-51

Leonnates decipiens Fauvel, 1929

Leonnates decipiens Fauvel, 1929: 180 –182, fig. 1; Fauvel, 1953: 171 –172, fig. 87; Day, 1967: 330, figs 14–11; Ben-Eliahu, 1972: 192; Qiu & Qian, 2000: 1123, fig. 6.

Material examined. Iran, Gulf of Oman, Khalasi estuary, 2 specimens ( ZUTC Ann. 1101).

Description. Material examined 42 mm long, 2 mm wide at chaetiger 10 (excluding parapodia). Longest tentacular cirri extending to chaetiger 4. Prostomium not cleft and relatively wide, Pharynx with small, transparent, conical paragnaths, arranged as follows: Area I = 0, II =5, in small cluster, III = small group of small paragnaths, IV = small group of about 10 paragnaths; oral ring with soft papillae arranged as follows: V = 0, VI = 1 large papilla, VII–VIII = 8 papillae in one row. Notopodia with three ligules, dorsal cirrus shorter than dorsal ligule. Anterior neuropodia have unequal, finger-like ligules, ventral ligule in middle and posterior neuropodia long and pointed. Ventral cirrus shorter than ventral ligule. Notochaetae all homogomph spinigers. Neurochaetae all homogomph spinigers and heterogomph falcigers; mid-body falcigers have convex spinous blade with truncate tip.

Regional distribution. Gulf of Oman (Khalasi estuary); Arabian Sea ( Table 2 ).

continued next page World distribution. Congo, Senegal, and Mozambique, Africa; northern Australia (Hutchings & Reid, 1991); Suez Canal; Krusadai Island, India (type locality); Sri Lanka; China.

Remarks. The genus was revised by Qiu & Qian (2000), who recognised nine species: Leonnates indicus Kinberg , L. niestraszi Horst , L. decipiens Fauvel , L. insolitus Gravier & Dantan , L. simplex Monro , L. persicus Wesenberg-Lund , L. stephensoni Rullier , L. nipponicus Imijima and L. crinitus Hutchings & Reid. The present specimens closely resemble L. decipiens , originally described by Fauvel (1929) from Krusadai Island, Gulf of Mannar, south India. This is the first record of this species from the Gulf of Oman; the only other Leonnates species reported from the Gulf of Oman is L. indicus . Leonnates decipiens may be distinguished from L. indicus based on the distribution of pharyngeal processes, shape and occurrence of the falcigers and shape of parapodia (Qui & Qian, 2000). Further, L. decipiens has falcigers with a convex spinous blade and truncate tip, which are present only on the neuropodia of the mid-body region. Moreover, in L. decipiens the neuropodial postchaetal ligule in anterior chaetigers has a prominent finger-like protrusion on the upper tip. In middle and posterior chaetigers, the neuropodial postchaetal ligules are greatly reduced while the ventral neuropodial ligule is much longer than the neuropodial acicular lobe and the postchaetal ligule. In L. indicus the neuropodial postchaetal ligule is similar in size along the body, and the ventral neuropodial ligule is of similar length to both the acicular lobe and postchaetal lobe.

Tables

TABLE 2. Records of Nereididae from the Gulf of Oman and adjacent seas. Present (+); not reported (–); Persian Gulf = Iranian Gulf. Records of Perinereis cultrifera include the following reported varieties, P. c. obfuscata, P. c. floridana, P. c. perspillata, P. c. striolata; those of Perinereis nuntia include P. n. typica, P. n. djiboutiensis, P. n. brevicirris, and P. n. vallata.

Species Persian Gulf	Gulf of Oman	Arabian Sea	Selected reference
Alitta succinea (Frey & Leuckart) +	+	–	Wesenberg-Lund (1949) as Nereis alatopalpis and Nereis singularis
Ceratocephale orientalis (Hartman) –	–	+	Hartman (1974a)
Ceratonereis mirabilis Kinberg +	+	–	Fauvel (1911, 1918, 1919)
Ceratonereis tripartita (Horst) +	–	–	Wesenberg-Lund (1949)
Dendronereides heteropoda Southern +	–	–	Fauvel (1932)
Gymnonereis phuketensis Hylleberg & – Nateewathana	–	+	Hartman (1974a) as Tambalagamia fauveli
Leonnates decipiens Fauvel –	+	+	Hartman (1974a); this study
Leonnates indicus Kinberg +	+	+	Fauvel (1918, 1919) and Wesenberg-Lund (1949) as Leonnates jousseaumei
Leonnates persicus Wesenberg-Lund +	–	+	Wesenberg-Lund (1949)
Neanthes deplanata Mohammad +	+		Mohammad (1971); this study
Neanthes longilingulis (Monro) –	–	+	Monro (1937)
Neanthes unifasciata (Willey) +	–	–	Mohammad (1973)
Neanthes willeyi (Day) +	–	–	Fauvel (1911) as Neanthes capensis ; Mohammad (1971)
Nereis coutieri Gravier +	+	+	Fauvel (1911, 1919); this study
Nereis jacksoni Kinberg +	–	+	Monro (1937); Hartman (1974a)
Nereis neogracilis Mohammad +	–	–	Mohammad (1970)