Paraleocrates wesenberglundae Salazar-Vallejo 2020, n. comb.
Creators: name: Salazar-Vallejo, Sergio I.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2020
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Annelida
Polychaeta
Phyllodocida
Hesionidae
Paraleocrates
Paraleocrates wesenberglundae

description: Paraleocrates wesenberglundae (Pettibone, 1970) n. comb.
Fig. 62
Leocrates claparedii: Wesenberg-Lund 1949: 271. Fig. 10 (non Costa in Claparède, 1866).
Leocrates wesenberglundae Pettibone, 1970: 225–227, Figs 23–24.
Type material. Iranian Gulf. Holotype (NHMD 109183), 27 km NW of Kuh-i-Mubarak, Jask Bay, G. Thorson Sta. 78B (26°03’ N, 57°06’ E), 70 m, tough grey clay; 21 Apr. 1937. Two paratypes (NHMD 109184, NHMD 109185), 3.2 km NW by North off the Light-buoy at Jask, G. Thorson Sta. 72B (25°41’ N, 57°43’ E), 12 m, tough grey clay, 20 Apr. 1937 [data used for variation]. One paratype (USNM 37647), 1.6 km SE from Hormuz Island, G. Thorson Sta. 80 (27°02’ N, 56°31’ E), 15 m, soft brown clay, 22 Apr. 1937 (damaged, without cirri, slightly dehydrated, bent dorsally. Body pale, eyes colorless; left parapodia of chaetigers 7 and 8 previously dissected (five parapodia kept with paratype). Prostomium with left lateral antennae, shorter than prostomium, as long as palps; palpophores 4 times longer than palpostyles. Pharynx exposed, anterior margin with crenulations and right lateral vesicle, upper and lower jaws visible, exposed. Notacicular lobes tapered, neuracicular lobes blunt. Chaetigers 1–3 without notochaetae, present along chaetigers 4–16, broken in many parapodia; about 50 per bundle, delicate, smooth. Neurochaetae with blades entire, without guards, blades decreasing in size ventrally, some with a few tiny denticles along its cutting edge).
Description. Holotype (NHMD 109183), complete, slightly distorted, posterior region bent upward, posterior gut expelled through anus, most body cirri missing (Fig. 62A). Body obconic, wider anteriorly, tapered posteriorly, 12 mm long, 1.5 mm wide, 16 chaetigers; right parapodium of chaetiger 2, and left parapodia of chaetigers 8 and 13 previously removed (not available in container). Body brownish anteriorly up to chaetigers 4–5, paler afterwards, venter with two yellowish longitudinal wide bands along parapodial bases, midventral region pale (Fig. 62C).
Prostomium wider than long, slightly wider anteriorly (Fig. 62B). Lateral antennae with ceratophores distinct, slightly shorter than prostomium, as long as palps; palpophores 3–4 times longer than palpostyles. Median antenna tiny, probably broken, inserted towards the posterior prostomial margin (between posterior eyes after original figure).
Eyes without pigmentation, not visible (tiny, slightly darker than surrounding integument, round, anterior ones slightly larger and more separated than posterior ones in paratype NHMD 109184).
Nuchal organs lobes horizontal C-shaped, not concealed by anterior margin of tentacular belt; lateral ciliated bands visible dorsally. Tentacular cirri missing, dorsal cirrophores progressively and gradually larger posteriorly. Lateral cushions reduced, entire along anterior and middle regions (two-thirds of body), bipartite in posterior region; longitudinal striae barely visible.
Pharynx partially exposed (Fig. 62C, D). Lateral vesicles not seen (paired, globose in NHMD 109184, 109185). Anterior margin with abundant, irregular contractions, each with smaller folds complicating their counting. Dorsal and ventral jaws single, fang-shaped brownish, tapered, ventral jaw smaller than dorsal one.
Peristomial dorsolateral tubercles as long as wide, slightly projected anteriorly, smooth.
Dorsal cirri missing. Chaetigers 1–3 without notochaetae; notochaetae present along chaetigers 4–16. Parapodial features observed in paratypes (NHMD 109184, 109185). Notochaetae delicate, abundant (about 50 per bundle), boken in many parapodia, arranged in bundles, notochaetal surface smooth. Notacicular lobes tapered, with a dorsal middle projection or ridge (NHMD 109184), or tapered (NMHD 109185) (Fig. 62E). Ventral cirri surpassing neurochaetal lobes (Fig. 62E, F). Neurochaetae about 30 per bundle, blades unidentate, 12–50 times longer than wide, tapered into long aristae, without guards (Fig. 62E, inset, 62F, inset).
Posterior region tapered into a truncate tip, without cirri. Prepygidial segment reduced, dorsal cirrophores slightly wider than ventral ones. Pygidium with anus terminal, anal cirri missing.
Oocytes not seen; present in one paratype (NHMD 109184), some loose, most grouped in gonad fragment; oocytes about 100 µm in diameter.
Variation. Paratype NHMD 109184 distorted, completely bent laterally. Body 17 mm long, 1.5 mm wide, 16 chaetigers. Left lateral antenna broken, right one as long as palps; palpophores 4 times longer than palpostyles; lateral peristomial tubercles granulose, probably eroded, left one oval, wider than long, right one as long as wide. Pharynx completely exposed, depressed; jaws single, fang-shaped brownish, upper one larger than lower one; lateral pharynx vesicles globose. Notochaetae from chaetiger 4; most neurochaetal blades on site. Paratype NHMD 109185 distorted, bent laterally; pharynx completely exposed, upper jaw previously removed. Body obconic, colorless, 12 mm long, 1.5 mm wide, 16 chaetigers; all antennae missing; palps present, palpophores 4 times longer than palpostyles; lateral prostomial tubercles round, wider than long; lateral pharynx vesicles globose; notochaetae from chaetiger 4; many neurochaetal blades missing.
Remarks. Paraleocrates wesenberglundae (Pettibone, 1970) n. comb. belongs in Paraleocrates because it has unidentate blades, instead of bidentate blades present in Leocrates, and hence the new combination.
Paraleocrates wesenberglundae differs from P. djankarensis (Augener & Pettibone in Pettibone, 1970) from Indonesia and the Philippines especially in two features: the size of eyes, and the type of neurochaetal blades. In P. wesenberglundae anterior eyes are slightly larger than posterior ones, and neurochaetal blades have no guards at all, with teeth tapered into long aristae, whereas in P. djankarensis anterior eyes are twice larger than posterior ones, and neurochaetal blades are unidentate, with round teeth, and with long, aristate guards.
Distribution. Gulf of Oman, in sediments, in 12–70 m depth.
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 106-108, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4739.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/3672547