Abstract
A new brackish-water serpulid polychaete species belonging to the genus Ficopomatus from Thailand is described. It had previously been identified as another known species belonging to the same genus. Taxonomic problems within the subfamily Ficopomatinae to which it belongs and the relationship of the genus Marifugia and its single known species which occurs in freshwater are discussed. While the other known genera of the subfamily possess seven thoracic chaetigers, Marifugia has six, but agrees with the former with regard to all other important characters. Likewise, among typically marine taxa, the genus Pomatoleios has six thoracic characters but agrees with the genera Pomatoceros and Spirobranchus with regard to all other important characters. As there are also other known serpulid genera having six thoracic chaetigers, an analysis was undertaken of 10 genera, six of them having six thoracic chaetigers and the remaining four seven. It revealed that Marifugia is the sister to the clade containing the other two genera of the Ficopomatinae (Neopomatus and Ficopomatus) and Pomatoleios is sister to the clade containing Pomatoceros and Spirobranchus. The usefulness of opercular insertion/derivation from a particular branchial radiole as a character in serpulid taxonomy is discussed. As observed in adults and juveniles of species belonging to ficopomatine genera, as well on available evidence on post-larval development, their opercular insertion is in the position of the first branchial radiole, unlike in genera such as Pomatoceros and Hydroides where it is on the second. A key to the known taxa of the subfamily is provided. Although they may be geographically separated by oceanic and/or terrestrial barriers, their common characters, including their ability to survive and propagate in their respective typically non-marine habitats, are indicative of their monophyly.
References
Absolon, K & Hrabé, S. (1930) Üeinen neuen Süßwasser Polychaeten aus den Höhlengewässern der Herzegowina. Zoologischer Anzeiger, 88, 9/10, 249–264.
Annandale, N. (1916) Preliminary report on the fauna of Taléh Sap or inland sea of Singgora. Journal of the Natural History Society of Siam, 2, 90–102.
Ben-Eliahu, M. N. & Fiege, D. (1996) Serpulid Tube-Worms (Annelida: Polychaeta) of the Central and Eastern Mediterranean with Particular attention to the Levant Basin. Senckenbergiana maritima, 28 (1/3), 1–51.
Bianchi, C. N. (1981) Policheti Serpuloidea. Guide per il riconoscimento delle specie animali delle acque lagunarie costiere italiane. Consiglio Nationale delle Richerche, AQ/1/96, 5, 1–187.
Fauvel, P. (1923) Un nouveau serpulien d’eau saumâtre Mercierella n. g. enigmatica n. sp. Bulletin de la Societé Zoologigue de France, Paris, 46, 424–430.
Fiege, D. & Sun, R. (1999) Polychaeta from Hainan Island, South China Sea Part 1 Serpulidae (Annelida, Polychaeta, Serpulidae). Senckenbergiana biologica, 79 (2), 109–141.
Fischer-Piette, E. (1937) Sur la biologie du Serpulien d’eau saumâtre Mercierella enigmatica Fauvel. Bulletin de la Société Zoologique de France, LXIII, 3, 197–208.
Hartmann-Schröder, G. (1971) Zur Unterscheidung von Neopomatus Pillai und Mercierella Fauvel (Serpulidae, Polychaeta). (Mit neuen Beitrgen zur Kenntnis der Ökologie und der Röhrenform von Mercierella enigmatica Fauvel). Mitteilungen aus den Hamburgischen Zoologischen Museum und Institut, 67, 7–27.
Heldt, J. H. (1944) Sur la présence de Mercierella enigmatica Fauvel serpulien d’eau saumâtre dans les eaux très salées du Lac de Tunis. Station Océanographique de Salammbo, Notes N° 30, 1–4.
Heldt, J. H. (1953) Mercierella enigmatica Fauvel et le comblement éventuel du Lac de Tunis. Station Océanographique de Salammbo, Notes N° 33, 3–7.
Hennig, W. (1966) Phylogenetic systematics, Translated by D. Dwight Davis and Rainer Zangerl, University of Illinois Press, 1–262.
Hill, M. B. (1967) The life cycle and salinity of the serpulids Mercierella enigmatica Fauvel, and Hydroides uncinata (Philippi) at Lagos, Nigeria. Journal of Animal Ecology, 36 (2), 302–321.
Hove, H. A. ten. (1970) Serpulinae (Polychaeta) from the Caribbean:- The Genus Spirobranchus. Studies on the Fauna of Curaçao and other Caribbean Islands. Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague, 32, 1–57.
Hove, H. A. ten. (1984) Towards a phylogeny in serpulids (Annelida Polychaeta). Proceedings of the First International Polychaete Conference, Sydney, edited by P. A. Hutchings, published by The Linnaean Society of New South Wales, 181–196.
Hove, H. A. ten & E. Nishi. (1996) A Redescription of the Indo-West Pacific Spirobranchus corrugatus Straughan, 1967 (Serpulidae, Polychaeta), and an Alternative hypothesis on the nature of a group Middle Miocene microfossils from Poland. Beaufortia, 46 (5), 83–96.
Hove, H. A. ten & Smith, R. S. (1990) A Re-description of Ditrupa gracillima Grube, 1878 (Polychaeta, Serpulidae) from the Indo-Pacific, with a Discussion of the Genus. Records of the Australian Museum, 42, 101–118.
Hove, H. A. ten & Weerdenburg, J. C. A. (1978) A generic revision of the brackish-water serpulid Ficopomatus Southern 1921 (Polychaeta: Serpulinae), including Mercierella Fauvel 1923, Sphaeropomatus Treadwell 1934, Mercierellopsis Rioja 1945 and Neopomatus Pillai 1960. Biological Bulletin, 154, 96–120.
Hove, H. A. ten & Zibrowius, H. (1986) Laminatubus alvini gen. et sp. n. and Protis hydrothermica sp. n. (Polychaeta: Serpulidae) from the bathyal hydrothermal communities in the Eastern Pacific. Zoologica Scripta, 15, 21–31.
Hutchings, P. A. (2000) Natural History, Pp 32–38 in P. L.Beesely, G. L B. Ross & C. J. Glasby (eds). The Southern Synthesis. Fauna of Australia. Vol. 4A. Polychaeta, Myzostomida, Pogonophora, Echiura, Sipuncula. CSIRO Publishing; Melbourne, xii, 1–465.
Jalžić, B. (2002) Polychaeta. Marifugia cavatica Absolon et Hrabé. In An overview of the cave and interstitial biota of Croatia, by Matočec, S. G., et al. 2002.. Ed. S. G. Matočec. Natura Croatica, 2 (Supplement 1), 1–112.
Kupriyanova, E. K. & Jirkov, I. A. (1997) Serpulidae (Annelida, Polychaeta) of the Arctic Ocean. Sarsia, 82, 203–236.
Matjašič, J. & Sket, B. (1966) Développment larvaire du Serpulien cavernicole Marifugia cavatica Absolon & Hrabé (Polychaeta, Sedentaria). International Journal of Spéléology. 2, 9–16.
Mooi, R. (2007) Animals of San Francisco Bay. A Field Guide to it common benthic species. California Academy of Sciences, 875 Howard Street, San Francisco, California 94103.
Orrhage, L. (1980) On the structure and homologies of the anterior end of the polychaete families Sabellidae and Serpulidae. Zoomorphology, 96, 113–168.
Pillai, T. G. (1960) Some Marine and Brackish-water Serpulid Polychaeta from Ceylon, including New Genera and Species. Ceylon Journal of Science (Biological Sciences), (3) 1, 1–40.
Pillai, T. G. (1965) Annelida Polychaeta from the Philippines and Indonesia. Ceylon Journal of Science, Biological Sciences, 5 (2), 110–177.
Pillai, T. G. (1971) Studies on a collection of marine and brackish-water polychaete annelids of the Family Serpulidae from Ceylon. Ceylon Journal of Science (Biological Sciences), 9 (2), 88–130.
Pillai, T. G. & Hove, H.A. ten. (1994) On recent species of Spiraserpula Regenhardt, 1961, a serpulid polychaete genus hitherto known only from Cretaceous and Tertiary fossils. Bulletin of the Natural History Museum, Zoology Series, 60 (1), 9–104.
Segrove, F. (1941) The development of the serpulid Pomatoceros triqueter. Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science, New Series 327, 82 (part 3), 467–540.
Southern, R. (1921) Polychaeta of the Chilka Lake and also of fresh and brackish waters in other parts of India. Memoirs of the Indian Museum, 5, 563–659.
Straughan, D. (1966) Australian brackish water serpulids (Annelida: Polychaeta). Records of the Australian Museum, 27, 139–146.
Treadwell, A. L. (1934) Sphaeropomatus miamiensis, a new genus and species of serpulid polychaete. Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences, 24, 338– 341.