| Prionospio pyramidalis (Hutchings & Turvey, 1984). Family Spionidae | ||||
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Prionospio pyramidalis [Click photo for picture page] 
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| Habitat: | Intertidal. Rocky shore. Open beaches. Crevice sediment. Depth range: 0-1 (m). Salinity regime: Marine only. Microhabitat: Rock crevices. Tube: No tube? Freeliving in crevice | |||
| Occurrence: | Uncommon. Density: 10 (m2).
Distribution in NZ: Wellington, Taranaki, Wairarapa, Chatham Island records. | |||
| Feeding guild: | Surface deposit/filter-feeding. | |||
| Diagnosis: | Genus Prionospio in Family Spionidae.
Prionospio with four pairs of branchiae, all pinnate. Branchiae short with sparse large pinnae, last pair somewhat shorter than first three pairs. Prostomium blunt. Neuropodial sabre chaetae begin on chaetiger 11, Notopodial hooded hooks begin chaetiger 11, neuropodial chaetiger 28. Dorsal crests absent. Postchaetal lobes largest on chaetiger 4, but generally small and inconspicuous. Two pair of red eyes, one pair adjacent and lateral to the other. About 90 chaetigers for 12 mm. Colour: Maximum size: 12 mm total length, 0.5 mm body width. |
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| Notable aspect: | Pinnate branchiae. Adjacent red eye pairs. | |||
| Comparisons: | Prionospio aucklandica Augener has three pairs of pinnate branchiae and is found on sheltered sand beaches. | |||
| Taxonomy: | Newly reported for New Zealand here. The New Zealand form appears very close to the Australian P. pyramidalis. There are some differences which do not seem significant enough to distinguish a new species. | |||
| Distribution: | Australia and New Zealand | |||
| Biology: | Little is known. A small species of rock crevices and algal holdfasts on open rock coasts. | |||
| Best References: | Biology: No recommendation. Taxonomy: Hutchings and Turvey (1984) The Spionidae of South Australia (Annelida: Polychaeta). Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia 108:1-20. | |||
| More information: |
Synonyms, NZ records | Original figures | Original description details | |
| Genus diagnosis | More pictures | Further references (biology, etc) | Family Spionidae | |
| 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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