A NEW GENUS OF FAUVELIOPSIDAE HARTMAN, 1971 (ANNELIDA: POLYCHAETA) FROM THE NE NORTH ATLANTIC, WITH A NEW SPECIES OF FAUVELIOPSIS MCINTOSH, 1922, A REVIEW OF THE NORTH ATLANTIC FAUVELIOPSIDS, AND REDESCRIPTIONS OF SOME DESCRIBED TAXA
Petersen, M. E.
Zoological Museum, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 15, DK-2100 Copenhagen Ø, Denmark
The family Fauveliopsidae has about 20 described species, not all of which named, most of which have been taken in deeper water, and several of which have had the anterior end interpreted as the posterior end! Material collected by the BIOFAR and BIOICE programs from the Faroe Islands and off Iceland contained several species of fauveliopsids, one of which is new to science, another of which (Fauveliopsis cabiochi Amoureux, 1982) is proposed as the type of a new genus characterized by a relatively small, fixed number of segments, a smooth cuticle, modified acicular chaetae of anterior chaetigers sticklike, and absence of a ventral shield. F. cabiochi is redescribed and refigured from syntypes and new material, a lectotype is selected, and the species is transferred to the new genus described herein. Species of the new genus (F. brevis complex, F. cabiochi, and perhaps F. arenicola Riser, 1987) appear to be mainly or entirely free-living. Fauveliopsis challengeri McIntosh, 1922, type species of Fauveliopsis, is redescribed and refigured from the holotype, and the genus is herein restricted to species with a variable number of segments, a rugose and often minutely papillate cuticle, modified acicular chaetae of anterior chaetigers weakly or strongly curved, and usually a ventral shield. The new species is described and figured. Species of Fauveliopsis as herein restricted are most often found in shells of gastropods or scaphopods, or tubular tests of foraminiferans. The North Atlantic fauveliopsids are briefly reviewed and some taxonomic characters of the family, including the genital papilla and ventral shield, are described and illustrated. The total number of segments usually varies in adults, so this feature is mostly useless as a species character in the genus Fauveliopsis, although it can presently still be used to define species groups in the new genus (the name F. brevis (Hartman, 1965) currently appears to be used for more than one species). A number of species assigned to Fauveliopsis are incompletely known and it is likely that the genus is still polyphyletic.