Polycirrus eximius Leidy, 1855

Glasby, Christopher J. & Hutchings, Pat, 2014, Revision of the taxonomy of Polycirrus Grube, 1850 (Annelida: Terebellida: Polycirridae), Zootaxa 3877 (1), pp. 1-117 : 55

Polycirrus eximius Leidy, 1855 , species inquirenda

Torquea eximia Leidy, 1855: 146 , pl. XI, figs 51–52.

Apneumea eximia .— Quatrefages, 1865: 383.

Polycirrus eximius .— Verrill, 1873: 616, pl.16, fig. 85.

Type locality. East coast of USA, see notes in Comments .

Material examined. None.

Description. Body soft, colour blood-red. Notochaetae within a chaetiger one type, 12 chaetae per parapodium anteriorly, gradually elongating from dorsal to ventral. Primary notochaetae in anterior chaetigers smooth, subdistally expanded with wings; posteriorly same form as those anteriorly, 3–6 chaetae per parapodium. Neurochaetae beginning on segment 8. Neurochaetae 12–40. Uncini with short neck and straight to convex base (Type 1), subrostral process absent.

Comments. The above brief description is based on the type description; however, there are insufficient data to allow us to fully code and differentiate this species. The original description has three illustrations: a lateral view of an uncinus that is short-handled (Type 1) and two notochaetae that have winged tips. The illustrations are very diagrammatic and not sufficient to characterise the species, therefore we have not reproduced them here. Leidy (1855) does not give a precise location as to where this species was collected, but indicates that the fauna described in this paper were collected from Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island , and in the vicinity of Atlantic City and at the mouth of Great Egg Harbour, both in New Jersey, USA .

Verrill (1873) described P. eximius as having 25 notochaetigerous segments and uncini from chaetiger 8, and this description was repeated by Miner (1950). Day (1973) suggested that P. eximius is a very variable species with 16–31 notochaetigerous segments, neurochaetae starting on chaetigers 7–9, and 3–6 pairs of nephridia. Day suggested that as such variation is greater than typically exhibited by species of Polycirrus , his specimen from North Carolina, USA, with 25–31 pairs of notochaetigers should be treated as a separate subspecies. We have elevated the subspecies to a full species (see P. dubia above). Day (1973) examined material from Vineyard Sound, Massachusetts, identified by Verrill in 1881 (USNM 8165) and some fresh material from off Beaufort in 5–80 m; he documented some variation in the number of pairs of notopodia and nephridial papillae present. It seems likely that Day was in fact examining more than one species. Day (1973) also states that the type of Torquea eximia Leidy is lost, the description is inadequate, and the original drawings are too small to show specific characters. We agree with Day (1973) and suggest that the species be treated as species inquirenda until additional material is available.