PROCEEDINGS OF THE BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON lI7(3):346-362. 2004. Longipalpa saltatrix, a new genus and species of the meiofaunal family Nerillidae (Annelida: Polychaeta) from an anchihaline cave in Bermuda Katrine Worsaae, Wolfgang Sterrer, and Thomas M. Iliffe (KW) Zoological Museum, University of Copenhagen, Denmark, e-mail:
[email protected]; (WS) Bermuda Natural History Museum, Flatts FLBX, Bermuda, e-mail:
[email protected]; (TMI) Texas A&M University at Galveston, Texas 77553-1675, U.S.A., e-mail:
[email protected] Abstract. — A new genus and species of the meiofaunal family Nerillidae is described from an anchihaline cave in Bermuda. The description is based on studies of live animals with dissecting and light microscopes, as well as studies of fixed material with light and scanning electron microscopy. Longipalpa sal-tatrix, new species, differs from all other nerillids by possessing a pair of extremely long latero-ventral palps on the prostomium and a pair of ciliated pygidial lobes. It is further characterized by the combination of the following characters: three very short dorsal prostomial antennae, eight chaetigerous body segments, single parapodial cirri from segment three to eight, compound chae-tae, and hermaphroditism. With 48 species in 17 genera (300 jjim-2 mm in length), the Nerillidae is the largest meiofaunal family in the Polychaeta. The family has been a member of the now re-jected group 'Archiannelida' (e.g.. Beau-champ 1910, Goodrich 1912). The Nerilli-dae are now believed to be more closely related to a macrofauna family among the Aciculata and possibly have evolved by progenesis (Westheide 1990, Westheide & Purschke 1996, Rouse & Fauchald 1997, Rouse & Pleijel 2001). Nerillids are nearly all marine and dis-tributed worlwide, from the intertidal to abyssal depths (3660 m — see Worsaae & Kristensen 2003). While most nerillids are members of the interstitial sand fauna, some have been found in mud, fine silt, organic debris, bacterial mats, green algae and mac-rophytes (Jouin & Swedmark 1965, Gelder 1974, Sterrer & Iliffe 1982, Saphonov & Tzetlin 1997, Muller et al. 2001, Worsaae & Kristensen 2003). Several nerillids are known from caves: Leptonerilla prospera (Sterrer & Iliffe, 1982) was described from caves in Bermuda with fine silt; Mesone-rilla diatomeophaga Nufiez, 1997 in Niiiiez et al. (1997) was described from a cave in Lanzarote with diatom carpets on lapilli; Nerilla marginalis Tilzer, 1970 was de-scribed from a marginal cave in Istra; and Troglochaetus beranecki Delachaux, 1921 has been reported from various freshwater caves, groundwater reservoirs and moun-tain rivers in Europe and Colorado, U.S.A. [see Morselli et al. (1995) for review]. Ne-rillids are known from all continents, except Antarctica, and the wide geographical dis-tribution as well as the diversity in habitats may well reflect an old evolutionary origin of the family. The anchihaline Bermudian caves are in-habited by a rich and diverse fauna, con-sisting primarily of crustaceans (Sket & Il-iffe 1980; Iliffe et al. 1983; Manning et al. 1986; Iliffe 1993, 1994, 2000). The most abundant stygobiont taxa are copepods and ostracods with 18 species each. Non-crus-taceans include two ciliates, two gastro-pods, and two annelids — the nerillid Lep-tonerilla prospera and the tubificid oligo-chaete Phallodriloides macmasterae (Er-
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