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Sigalionidae			Family Sigalionidae (sigalionid/scale worm) Phyllodocida (Annelida: Polychaeta)

About Family Sigalionidae polychaetes in New Zealand.
How to recognise the family:	Sigalionids are predatory scale worms found burrowing in sands and muds. The body is long and rectangular in section, with many segments and the worms are usually somewhat fragile. Jaws and elytra are present as in the polynoids, but elytra occur on every segment in the posterior body. Unlike aphroditids, polynoids and acoetids, the neurochaetae are compound falcigers and there are usually no dorsal cirri on the segments without elytra, although there may be knob-like tubercles, and dorsal cirri are present on segment three (following the first elytron) in the Pelogenia group. Each segment has a cirriform gill arising from the elytron attachment point or dorsal tubercle. Sigalionid notopodia are often ornamented with slender papillae. The first chaetiger is directed forward and underneath the head, and is usually more developed than in polynoids. An anal cirri pair is present. Adult size: Sigalionids tend to be several centimetres long but Pelogenia antipoda is easily the largest species at 100 mm length and 8 mm width.
How to recognise the New Zealand genera:	Only Pelogenia occurs intertidally. See taxonomic notes for other genera.
Quick pick shore species:	The very tough-bodied, sand-encrusted Pelogenia antipoda Schmarda, 1861 (previously Psammolyce) has a grey or rust-coloured papillose surface, small elytra each with a dorsal prolongation, and thickened dark neurochaetae. There are no rocky shore species.
Possible misidentifications:	Pelogenia antipoda is unlikely to be confused with other taxa. Subtidal sigalionids may be confused with the more elongate polynoids but only sigalionids have compound chaetae.
Distributions, lifestyle, and habitat:	Throughout New Zealand. Intertidal to continental shelf. Pelogenia antipoda is found in beds of seagrass (Zostera spp.) in harbours and subtidally. Other species occur in soft sediments offshore. There are no rocky shore or crevice-dwelling sigalionid species.
Abundance:	Moderate.
Taxonomic note:	Subtidal species include Sthenelais chathamensis Knox, 1960 and Labiosthenolepis laevis (McIntosh, 1885). There is another Pelogenia species, Pelogenia semiglabra (Monro, 1936) which is subtidal and has marginal elytral papillae in tufts. Sthenelais chathamensis has nearly transparent elytra with papillated margins. Several additional Sthenelais species have been described. Labiosthenolepis laevis (McIntosh, 1885) has unornamented elytra and the median antenna has basal flaps. There are a considerable number of other subtidal species such as Sigalion oviger Monro, 1924, and Euthalenessa fimbriata (McIntosh, 1885).
References:	(Augener 1927: p340-342, f1), (Knox 1960a: p95-98, f79-87), (Mackie & Chambers 1990: p52-54), (McIntosh 1885: p144-145, 156-157, P20.4, 23.4,10-11, 23a.13, 24.5, 25.1-2, 29.10), (Monro 1936: p103-106, f12, 14), (Pettibone 1992: p615-618, f1-2), (Pettibone 1997: p30-33, 41-43, f21-23, 29), (Schmarda 1861: p160). (Full citations at Family pages literature cited list.)

Species in the guide:	Rock Species: None for this family.
	Sand Species: Pelogenia antipoda
	Shell Species: None for this family.
Internet  sources:	GOOGLE Search |   AlltheWeb Search | CISTI |   CBIF BiOSC Gateway | GOBASE Molecular | GenBank |
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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. Last modified by G. Read, 25/07/2004    (dd/mm/yy)