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Abarenicola devia			Arenicolidae (arenicolid/lug-worm) Scolecida (Annelida: Polychaeta)

Abarenicola  devia  Wells, 1963.   Family Arenicolidae
				Abarenicola devia [Click photo for picture page]
Habitat:	Intertidal. Soft shore. Bays and sheltered beaches. Sand Infaunal. Depth range: 0-1 (m). Salinity regime: Harbour-like variation. Microhabitat:  Deepish burrows usually at spade depth Tube: None. Burrow mucous-lined
Occurrence:	Uncommon but may have localised colonies. Density: 1-5 (m2). Distribution in NZ: Central New Zealand. Further NZ distribution unknown.
Feeding guild:	Subsurface deposit-feeding/herbivore.
Diagnosis:	Genus Abarenicola in Family Arenicolidae. Medium-sized Abarenicola species with 19 chaetigers, branched gills beginning as a small pair on chaetiger seven. Oesophageal caeca 1(large)+4 to 1+6. Colour: In life an attractive green-yellow colour with bright red gills and a yellow tail section. Maximum size: 150 mm total length, 10 mm body width.
Notable aspect:	Colouration
Comparisons:	Differs from A. affinis in having fewer caeca, and externally in having annuli of first three chaetigers all similar sized (in A. affinis the parapodial annuli are enlarged).
Taxonomy:	Ashworth's inclusion of Plimmerton specimens of 'devia' in 'affinis' was a misidentification (fide Wells, 1963).
Distribution:	South Australia and New Zealand
Biology:	Abarenicola devia is found in clean, slightly coarse sand of partly sheltered beaches, including sand pockets on otherwise rocky shores.
Best References:	Biology: Wear (1962) The lugworm Abarenicola assimilis as a laboratory animal.. Tuatara 9:116-128 Taxonomy: Wells (1963) The lugworms of the southern cold temperate zone (Arenicolidae, Polychaeta). Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London. 140:121-159.

More  information:	Synonyms,  NZ records	Original figures	Original description details
	Genus diagnosis	More pictures	Further references (biology, etc)	Family Arenicolidae
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The information provided by this page and by the pages of the "more information" links is held in a structured form for rapid and frequent updating and improvement. Descriptive text is compiled from a number of database fields, some of which may occasionally be empty. Data last edited 25/07/2004, and page last generated by G. Read, 27/07/2004    (dd/mm/yy)