| Euzonus otagoensis Probert, 1976. Family Opheliidae | ||||
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Euzonus otagoensis lateral views [Click photo for picture page] 
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| Habitat: | Intertidal. Soft shore. Sheltered to open beaches. Fine clean sand Infaunal. Depth range: 0 (m). Salinity regime: Marine only. Microhabitat: Mid-tide level, with surface sign of presence not observed. Tube: No tube. Burrows freely. | |||
| Occurrence: | Uncommon but may have localised colonies. Density: 700 (m2).
Distribution in NZ: Rarely reported, but may be widespread. Known from Otago, Northland, and Wellington. | |||
| Feeding guild: | Subsurface deposit-feeding/herbivore. | |||
| Diagnosis: | Genus Euzonus in Family Opheliidae.
Always 38 chaetigers, the anterior 14 abranchiate, then 18 with paired branchiae, then at posterior 6 without branchiae . Head abruptly tapered to small point. Prostomial eyespots absent, lateral eyespots absent. A slight constriction between chaetiger 2 and three (genus character). Glandular ridge present on chaetiger 10, with a small ridge on chaetiger 11. Midventral ridge present in branchial region. Pygidium with a stout ventral cirrus, and lateral cirri numbering about 6-9 each side. All chaetae are unornamented capillaries. Colour: Red or pink in life. Maximum size: 35 mm total length, 2.5 mm body width, for 38 chaetigers. |
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| Notable aspect: | Bifurcate branchiae. Constant total number of chaetigers - no variation reported from a large number of specimens examined. | |||
| Comparisons: | Armandia maculata, a slender, more streamlined opheliid species, has other easily-seen differences in that the branchiae are single (NOT paired) on each segment, and eyespots ARE present. | |||
| Taxonomy: | Distinct in genus for 14 abranchiate chaetigers and for presence of 2nd glandular ridge on chaetiger 11. | |||
| Distribution: | Endemic. Unreported elsewhere. | |||
| Biology: | Has been found on open coast beaches that have some shelter. Is not known from either exposed surf beaches or sheltered harbours. | |||
| Best References: | Biology: Probert (1976) New species of Euzonus (Polychaeta: Opheliidae) from a New Zealand sandy beach. New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research 10:375-379 Taxonomy: Santos, Nonato, and Petersen (2004) Two new species of Opheliidae (Annelida: Polychaeta): Euzonus papillatus sp. n. from a northeastern Brazilian sandy beach and Euzonus mammillatus sp. n. from the continental shelf of southeastern Brazil. Zootaxa 478:1-12. | |||
| More information: |
Synonyms, NZ records | Original figures | Original description details | |
| Genus diagnosis | More pictures | Further references (biology, etc) | Family Opheliidae | |
| Internet sources: |
GOOGLE Search | AlltheWeb Search | CISTI | CBIF BiOSC Gateway | GOBASE Molecular | GenBank | Genus only in GenBank | | |||
| Genus only in Ubio Taxonomic Name Server | PubMed | Scirus | Zoological Record | | ||||
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