Mastobranchus variabilis Ewing, 1984b

Garcia-Garza, Maria Elena & Leon-Gonzalez, Jesus Angel De, 2011, Review of the Capitellidae (Annelida, Polychaeta) from the Eastern Tropical Pacific region, with notes on selected species, ZooKeys 151, pp. 17-52 : 23

Mastobranchus variabilis Ewing, 1984b

Mastobranchus variabilis Ewing, 1984b: 793, fig. 1 a–e; Dean 2001:76; 2004: 136.

Mastobranchus sp. A.Ewing 1984a: 14.35, Fig. 14.30a-f.

Mastobranchus ? variabilis Hernández-Alcántara and Solís-Weiss 1998: 710; 1999: 27.

Type locality.

Holotype (USNM), Florida, Tampa Bay, Gulf of México [27°36.5'N, 82°55.8'W], 12 m, clean sand, January 1980; 1 Paratype (USNM), Off Florida, St. Lucie Country, Hutchinson Island, Sta. 5 [27°22'22.08"N, 80°13'46"W], 10.3 m, Coll. D. Beaumariage, P. Camp and R. Gallagher, May 10 1972; and 1 Paratype (LACM-AHF), Sta. 723 [27°37.1'N, 82°55.1'W], 10 m, January 1980.

Type material.

Holotype (USNM 81993); 2 Paratypes (USNM 81994); 3 Paratypes (LACM- AHF 001369).

Material examined.

(6 specimens) Sinaloa: El Fuerte River, Stn. 51 [25°39.9'N, 109°30.6'W] (2 specimens), 49.5 m, March 20 1985, silty sands; Nayarit: María Madre Island Stn. 62C [21°38.2'N, 106°31.9'W] (4 specimens), 29.7 m, March 22 1985, fine sands Coll. PH-A.

Records.

USA: Alabama, Florida and North Carolina ( Ewing 1984a - b), Costa Rica ( Dean 2001, 2004).

Remarks.

Mastobranchus variabilis was described from the Gulf of México and later reported as Mastobranchus ? variabilis by Hernández-Alcántara and Solís-Weiss (1998) from the Gulf of California. Upon analysis of the specimens from the Gulf of California we found instead that they agreed morphologically with Neopseudocapitella brasiliensis Rullier & Amoureux (1979) described from Brazil. The record of Mastobranchus ? variabilis from the Mexican Pacific is therefore not considered valid.