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Issue: Vol. 5845 No. 1: 3 Jul. 2026
Type: Article
Published: 2026-07-03
DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5845.1.6
Page range: 129-143
Abstract views: 21
PDF downloaded: 0

A new species of deep-sea fouling Hyalopomatus (Annelida: Serpulidae) from the Mexican Pacific

Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León; Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas; Laboratorio de Zoología de Invertebrados No Artrópodos; Av. Pedro de Alba esq. Manuel L. Barragán; San Nicolás de los Garza; 66455; Nuevo León; Mexico
Laboratorio de Invertebrados Bentónicos; Unidad Académica Mazatlán; Instituto de Ciencias del Mar y Limnología; Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México; Av. Joel Montes Camarena s/n; Sinaloa 82140; Mexico
Scripps Institution of Oceanography; University of California San Diego; 9500 Gilman Drive; La Jolla CA; 92093-0202; USA
Annelida Tube worm fouling seismograph deep water western Mexico Ficopomatini Hyalopomatus biformis Hyalopomatus mironovi

Abstract

A new species of tubeworm belonging to the genus Hyalopomatus (Serpulidae) is described from the southern Mexican Pacific. It was found in 2024 attached to a seismograph at nearly 1000 m depth. The new species possesses distinctive features that separate it from the 17 species of this genus currently recognized, including: a white, opaque, smooth tube, with anterior collar-like shallow rings; a tetra-lobed collar; thoracic membranes extending to the second chaetiger; absence of an anterior abdominal achaetous zone; a spherical operculum, with a slightly differentiated distal cap; and a smooth, not annulated, junction between the peduncle and the operculum. Phylogenetic analyses indicate that the new species forms a clade with some other Hyalopomatus species (H. mironovi, H. suelindsayae and H. sp. 1 Jaco Summit) but does not group with an undescribed species from the Gulf of California (H. sp. Guaymas Basin).

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How to Cite

Tovar-Hernández, M.A., Hendrickx, M.E. & Rouse, G.W. (2026) A new species of deep-sea fouling Hyalopomatus (Annelida: Serpulidae) from the Mexican Pacific. Zootaxa, 5845 (1), 129–143. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5845.1.6