Christopher J. Glasby

Nereididae (Annelida: Phyllodocida) of Lizard Island, Great Barrier Reef, Australia

Nereididae is one of the most ubiquitous of polychaete families, yet knowledge of their diversity in the northern Great Barrier Reef is poor; few species have been previously reported from any of the atolls or islands including Lizard Island. In this study, the diversity of the family from Lizard Island and surrounding reefs is documented based on museum collections derived from surveys conducted mostly over the last seven years. The Lizard Island nereidid fauna was found to be represented by 14 genera and 38 species/species groups, including 11 putative new species. Twelve species are newly reported from Lizard Island; four of these are also first records for Australia. For each genus and species, diagnoses and/or taxonomic remarks are provided in addition to notes on their habitat on Lizard Island, and general distribution; the existence of tissue samples tied to vouchered museum specimens is indicated. Fluorescence photography is used to help distinguish closely similar species of Nereis and Platynereis. A key is provided to facilitate identification and encourage further taxonomic, molecular and ecological studies on the group.

Nereididae (Annelida: Phyllodocida) of the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman, including description of two new species and 11 new records

Currently, only 31 nereidid species are known from the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman. The present study was carried out in order to investigate the poorly known diversity of nereidid polychaetes from seas of the southern coasts of Iran. Specimens were collected from 23 locations along the intertidal zones of the two water bodies. Among the 26 species found: two are new, and are described here, including Simplisetia qeshmensis sp. nov. and Neanthes biparagnatha sp. nov.; 11 are new geographical records. Neanthes biparagnatha sp. nov. is most similar to N. deplanata (Mohammed, 1971), which is also found in the Persian Gulf, but can be most easily distinguished from it by the presence of bars in addition to cones in Area IV of the pharynx. Simplisetia qeshmensis sp. nov. may be distinguished from its closest congener, S. erythraeensis (Fauvel, 1918), also reported from the Persian Gulf, by having a greater number of paragnaths in Area I of the pharynx, an additional type of chaeta (homogomph spinigers) in the ventral neuropodial fascicle and having a reduced notopodial lobe in posterior chaetigers. The list of new records includes: one species from both areas, Neanthes glandicincta (Southern, 1921); eight species from the Persian Gulf, Leonnates decipiens Fauvel, 1929, Neanthes acuminata (Ehlers, 1868), Neanthes sp., Neanthes sp. cf. N. acuminata, Nereis sp. cf. N. pelagica Linnaeus, 1758, Perinereis cultrifera (Grube, 1840) species complex., Pseudonereis trimaculata (Horst, 1924), Pseudonereis sp. cf. P. variegata (Grube, 1857) and two from the Gulf of Oman, Leonnates persicus Wesenberg-Lund, 1949 and Perinereis kuwaitensis Mohammed, 1970. The present study brings to 40 the number of nereidid species currently known from the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman. A taxonomic key to nereidid species from the intertidal zones of the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman is presented to facilitate future investigations.

A new substance to relax polychaete worms (Annelida) prior to morphological study

Abstract A variety of chemical substances have been used to relax and/or immobilize polychaete worms, and other invertebrates, prior to specimen preparation for morphological examination. To solve difficulties encountered during the study of nereidid polychaetes (Annelida: Phyllodocida), an experiment was designed and carried out to investigate a new relaxing agent to immobilize nereidid specimens and stimulate pharynx eversion. The new substance, Dentol® (Khoraman laboratory, Iran), a dental anesthetic and antiseptic medicine containing 10% Carvacrol as the effective ingredient, was used for the first time and compared with other substances that have been used traditionally in polychaete studies. Crosstab analysis showed significant differences between different treatment groups, with Dentol® providing much better results for all considered criteria.