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Type: Correspondence
Published: 2015-11-26
Page range: 428–430
Abstract views: 33
PDF downloaded: 8

A probable non-annelid origin of pods attached to Amaeana ellobophora (Annelida: Polycirridae)

National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research Limited (NIWA), Private Bag 14 901, Kilbirnie, Wellington, New Zealand
Laboratório de Poliquetologia (LaPol), Departamento de Zoologia, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade de São Paulo, Rua do Matão, travessa 14, n. 101, 05508–090, São Paulo, SP, Brazil
Annelida Polycirridae

Abstract

There is an alternative explanation to the proposal by Nogueira et al. (2015) that the polycirrid Amaeana ellobophora Nogueira, Carrerette & Hutchings, 2015 is a species which broods eggs in attached cocoons. We suggest that the pods observed fixed to the anterior of one worm are instead highly modified parasitic copepods (Arthropoda: Crustacea: Copepoda: Poecilostomatoida), and thus do not provide any information on the reproductive mode of Amaeana Hartman species.