Leocrates claparedii : Fauvel 1923
Creators: name: Salazar-Vallejo, Sergio I.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2020
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Annelida
Polychaeta
Phyllodocida
Hesionidae
Leocrates
Leocrates claparedii

description: Leocrates claparedii (Costa in Claparède, 1868)
Figs 2 A–C, 28
Tyrrhena claparedii Costa in Claparède, 1868: 538–541, Pl. 18, Fig. 3 (plate never published).
Leocrates chinensis: Pettibone 1970: 214, Figs 12–13 (partim, Figs 12–13, non Kinberg, 1866).
Leocrates claparedii: Fauvel 1923:237–238, Fig. 88i–n; Tebble 1955: 87–88; Fauvel & Rullier 1959a: 513; 1959b: 158; Kirkegaard 1983: 214; Parapar et al. 2004: 221–223, Fig. 79 (redescr.); Parry et al. 2017: 224, Fig. 2C (peristomial middorsal tubercle indicated as median antenna).
Non-type material. Mediterranean Sea. Naples. One specimen (MCZ ANNa 588), purchased from the Naples Zoological Station, no further data [25 mm long, 3 mm wide]. Two specimens (USNM 5131), purchased from the Stazione Zoologica di Napoli, 1893 [used for description]. Croatia. One specimen (MMS HESI 6), Rovigno d’Istria, no further data [32 mm long, 4.5 mm wide]. Western Africa. Two specimens (NHMD 237479), Dakar, Senegal, rocky coast, 7 Jan. 1928, H. Madsen, coll. [25–28 mm long, 2–3 mm wide].
Description. Non-type specimens (USNM 5131) complete, larger one slightly damaged, many cirri missing, with posterior end collapsed by compression, probably after being depressed by labels; some parapodia previously removed (kept in container); both specimens previously pricked middorsally in an anterior chaetiger. Body pale, 25–29 mm long, 2.5–3.0 mm wide; both specimens with pharynx partially (Fig. 28A) or fully exposed (Fig. 28D).
Prostomium slightly wider than long (Fig. 28B), or as long as wide (Fig. 28E), slightly wider anteriorly, lateral margins straight. Lateral antennae with ceratophores distinct, lateral antennae longer than prostomium, slightly longer than palps. Palpophores 3–4 times longer than palpostyles; median antenna short, inserted between posterior eyes, reaching prostomial centre.
Eyes small, brownish, anterior ones each 1 / 12 prostomial width, slightly larger, slightly emarginate to reniform than posterior round smaller ones.
Nuchal organs lobes almost completely covered by anterior margin of tentacular belt, barely projected posteriorly. Tentacular cirri damaged or broken, largest specimen with tentacular cirri reaching chaetiger 5. Lateral cushions low, entire or divided into two sections, longitudinal striae visible.
Basal ring with middorsal tubercle widened basally, tapered into a blunt tip, or damaged; dorsolateral tubercles not seen. Ventrolateral tubercles barely visible. Pharynx partially everted, divided into two rings; one specimen with one left lateral vesicle, the other without vesicles; jaws exposed, upper jaw scimitar-like, lower jaw smaller.Anterior margin smooth or with about 20 irregular constrictions. Jaws single, brownish, upper jaw slightly larger and inserted ahead of ventral jaw.
Dorsal cirri broken, shorter than body width (excluding parapodia). Chaetigers 1–4 without notochaetae; notochaetae present along chaetigers 5–16, about 30 per bundle, sometimes expanded as a fan, most broken. Notacicular lobes tapered; neuracicular lobes round, truncate, as long as wide. Ventral cirri reaching or surpassing neurochaetal lobe (Fig. 28C, F). Neurochaetae about 20 per bundle, bidentate, guards approaching subdistal tooth, blades 2–8 times longer than wide, guards approaching subdistal tooth (Fig. 28C, inset, F, insets).
Posterior end tapered into a blunt cone; prepygidial segment (in other specimens) with dorsal cirri 4–5 longer than ventral ones; anal cirri without tips, reaching chaetiger 13.
Oocytes not seen.
Remarks. Leocrates claparedii (Costa in Claparède, 1868) resembles L. giardi Gravier, 1900 from the Red Sea because both have prostomia wider anteriorly, notacicular lobes tapered, and middle chaetigers with about 20–30 neurochaetae per bundle. These two species differ especially regarding the shape of notacicular and neuracicular lobes, and by the relative length of neurochaetal blades. In L. claparedii notacicular lobes are blunt, neuracicular ones are wider than long, and neurochaetal blades are 2–8 times longer than wide, whereas in L. giardi notacicular lobes are tapered, neuracicular ones are as long as wide, and blades are 3–10 times longer than wide.
The description of L. claparedii did not indicate the type locality, but Claparède (1868: 537, footnote) explained the name for the genus, Tyrrhena, was “d’après la mer Tyrrhénienne qu’habite l’espèce-type”. Despite the lack of precision for the type locality, it should be the Gulf of Naples. Previous publications by Oronzio Gabriele Costa (1787–1867), and his son, Achille Costa (1823–1898), the latter supposed to fully describe the species (Claparède 1868: 538), and even the corresponding monograph by Claparède himself (1868) were made after his research visits in Naples.
Pettibone (1970:215) listed L. claparedii as a junior synonym of L. chinensis Kinberg, 1866, from Hong Kong, but they differ as indicated elsewhere (Wang et al. 2018). It must be emphasized that L. claparedii was described from the Mediterranean, and Fauvel (1923) documented it. Further, against the synonymy by Pettibone, Kirkegaard (1983: 214) reinstated it. Parapar et al. (2004) redescribed the species and provided camara lucida illustrations for the diagnostic features. During the development of this revision, a short visit was made to the Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn in Naples to have a better idea of their collection, but it was under reconstruction, and no specimens were available. However, because the species is currently well-understood, and has been properly and recently illustrated, there is no need for proposing a neotype.
Distribution. Mediterranean Sea to Northwestern Africa, in shallow water rocky or mixed bottoms.
There are many records for this Mediterranean species for other localities, such as the Indian Ocean by Fauvel (1927: 417; 1930: 12–13; 1953b: 106–107, Fig. 50 c–g; 1957b: 4), Monro (1939: 392), Day (1951: 21; 1967: 230, Fig. 11.2g–k), Fishelson & Rullier (1969: 59), Mohammad (1972: 555), and Amoureux (1974c: 435). Likewise, for the Western Pacific by Fauvel (1935: 296-297; 1937: 60; 1939: 285; 1947a: 31–32, Fig. 28 a–d), Monro (1939: 392), and Rullier (1972: 58), or even for the Western Atlantic by Rullier & Amoureux (1979: 159). Because their specimens were not available, their identity cannot be confirmed.
description: Published as part of Salazar-Vallejo, Sergio I., 2020, Revision of Leocrates Kinberg, 1866 and Leocratides Ehlers, 1908 (Annelida, Errantia, Hesionidae), pp. 1-114 in Zootaxa 4739 (1) on pages 53-55, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4739.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/3672547