Pseudovermilia occidentalis McIntosh 1885
Creators: name: Bastida-Zavala, J. Rolando
name: Buelna, Alondra Sofía Rodríguez
name: León-González, Jesús Angel De
name: Camacho-Cruz, Karla Andrea
name: Carmona, Isabel
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2016
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Annelida
Polychaeta
Sabellida
Serpulidae
Pseudovermilia
Pseudovermilia occidentalis

description: Pseudovermilia occidentalis (McIntosh, 1885)
(Figures 7, 13 C)
Spirobranchus occidentalis McIntosh, 1885: 529 –530, pl. 55, Fig. 10, pl. 29a, Figs 31–32. Type locality: Off Bermuda (Western Atlantic); 795 m, in coral mud, attached to a tube of Placostegus assimilis McIntosh.
Vermiliopsis acanthophora (not Augener, 1914).— Monro 1933b: 1085 (James Bay, Santiago [James] Island, Galápagos; in clean sand and weed); synonymized by ten Hove 1975: 59.
Vermiliopsis hawaiiensis Treadwell, 1943: 3, Figs 14–15 (Hawaii); Straughan 1969: 234 –235 (Hawaii); according to ten Hove 1975: 59.
Vermiliopsis cornuta Rioja, 1947b: 525 –526, Figs 14–21 (type locality: Coromuel Beach, La Paz, Baja California Sur, on mollusk shells); Hartman 1961: 45 (San Pedro Area, Southern California, from rocky bottoms); Hartman 1966a: 354, 409 (Southern California); synonymized by ten Hove 1975: 59–60; Salazar-Vallejo 1989b: 200 (Mexican coasts, checklist); Hernández-Alcántara et al. 2008: 49 (mentioned only).
Vermiliopsis multiannulata (not Moore, 1923).— Hartman 1956: 300 –301 (referring to V. hawaiiensis as junior synonym of V. multiannulata); Hartman 1966b: 239 (Hawaii); Hartman 1969: 781 –782, Figs 1–2 (central and southern California; Fig. 2 from Pl. 18 of Moore 1923); partim, according to ten Hove (1975: 59–60); Salazar-Vallejo 1989b: 201 (Mexican coasts, checklist).
Pseudovermilia occidentalis.— ten Hove 1975: 59–72, Figs 114–123, 144–145, 155–156, 159, 161–164, 170–172, Pl. I, IIa–e, III, VII (revision of the genus); Bailey-Brock 1976: 77 –79 (Oahu, Maui and Hawaii Islands, rocky intertidal, reef flats, live substrata [chlorophyte Dictyosphaeria cavernosa] and anchialine lava ponds); Bailey-Brock 1987: 422 (Hawaii); Salazar- Vallejo 1989b: 200 (Mexican coasts, checklist); Bastida-Zavala 1993: 36 (Caleritas Beach, Baja California Sur); de León- González et al. 1993: 879 (Puerto Escondido Bay, Baja California Sur, epifauna on the oyster “ Spondylus princeps unicolor ”; 30 m); Bastida-Zavala 1995: 25 (Cabo Pulmo Reef, Baja California Sur, on coral; 4–7 m); Gómez et al. 1997: 1071 (Puerto Ángel Beach, Maguey Beach, La Entrega Beach and Cacaluta Beach, Oaxaca, on rocks and coral); Salazar- Vallejo & Londoño-Mesa 2004: 55 (Tropical Eastern Pacific, checklist); Bastida-Zavala 2008: 40–42, Figs 9 E–F (Baja California Sur and Oaxaca, intertidal to 7 m); Bastida-Zavala 2009: 540, Figs 3 T–U (identification key for Tropical America); ten Hove & Kupriyanova 2009: 85 (worldwide serpulid checklist); Bastida-Zavala et al. 2013: 349 (Oaxaca, checklist).
Pseudovermilia conchata (not ten Hove, 1975).— Salazar-Vallejo 1989b: 200 (Mexican coasts, checklist); Bastida-Zavala 1993: 36 (Caimancito Beach, Baja California Sur).
Material examined. 91 specimens.
Baja California Sur: UMAR-Poly 799-OH, 2 spec. (Caleritas Beach, La Paz Bay, 1–2 m, March 1, 2006, coll. DHP et al.).
Michoacán: UMAR-Poly 800, 4 spec. (Caleta de Campos, on sabellariid tubes, December 17, 1994, coll. RBZ).
Oaxaca: UMAR-POLY 801, 6 spec. (La Tijera Beach, on coral, April 30, 2005, coll. RBZ & GRC); UMAR- POLY 802, 18 spec. (Salchi Bay, Huatulco, sta. 3, on Pocillopora damicornis, 9 m, March 26, 2010, coll. ALP); UMAR-POLY 803, 2 spec. (Riscalillo Beach, on coral, June 16, 2004, coll. SGM); UMAR-POLY 804, 58 spec. (La Entrega Beach, on coral rubble, 2–3 m, May 23, 2000, coll. SSV et al.); UMAR-POLY 805 (Conejos Bay, Huatulco, June 11, 2005, coll. JHB & GNL).
Habitat. Intertidal to subtidal (30 m, de León-González et al. 1993); to 250 m according to ten Hove (1975). On calcareous substrates such as the oyster “ Spondylus princeps unicolor ” (de León-González et al. 1993), dead corals, sea urchin spines and on sabellariid tubes (Bastida-Zavala 2008).
Distribution. Amphi-American and amphi-Atlantic. In the Eastern Pacific from California to Galápagos, and Hawaii (ten Hove 1975).
Remarks. Pseudovermilia occidentalis was confused with Vermiliopsis multiannulata in the Eastern Pacific; however, the former species has thoracic membranes ending at the second thoracic chaetiger, and a black operculum; the thoracic membranes of V. multiannulata ends at the third thoracic chaetiger, and the operculum generally is reddish, yellow, or dark brown, never black (ten Hove 1975; Bastida-Zavala 2008).
Pseudovermilia occidentalis is very common in the Eastern Pacific, almost as common as in the Caribbean. The species is polymorphic in its opercula; Bastida-Zavala & Salazar-Vallejo (2000a) suggested a comparison between specimens of both coasts of America; however, until now no significant morphological differences were found. Whether or not populations of both coasts belong to the same species can only be decided by a DNA analysis.
description: Published as part of Bastida-Zavala, J. Rolando, Buelna, Alondra Sofía Rodríguez, León-González, Jesús Angel De, Camacho-Cruz, Karla Andrea & Carmona, Isabel, 2016, New records of sabellids and serpulids (Polychaeta: Sabellidae, Serpulidae) from the Tropical Eastern Pacific, pp. 401-457 in Zootaxa 4184 (3) on pages 431-432, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4184.3.1, http://zenodo.org/record/255062