A peer-reviewed open-access journal ZooKeys 533: 63–98 (2015) Catalogue of Lepidonotus from South America 63 doi: 10.3897/zookeys.533.6184 RESEARCH ARTICLE http://zookeys.pensoft.net Launched to accelerate biodiversity research A catalogue of the scaleworm genus Lepidonotus (Polynoidae, Polychaeta) from South America, with two new records for Brazilian waters José Eriberto De Assis1, Rafael Justino de Brito2, Martin Lindsey Christoffersen2, José Roberto Botelho de Souza1 1 Departamento de Zoologia, Centro de Ciências Biológicas - UFPE. Av. Prof. Morais Rego, 1235, Recife, Pernambuco, Brasil. CEP: 50670-901 2 Departamento de Sistemática e Ecologia, Centro de Ciências Exatas e da Natureza - UFPB, Cidade Universitária, CEP 58059-900, João Pessoa, Paraíba, Brasil Corresponding author: José Eriberto De Assis ([email protected]) Academic editor: Chris Glasby | Received 19 August 2015 | Accepted 17 September 2015 | Published 9 November 2015 http://zoobank.org/3366BE96-228D-4245-8BB7-5D14A66D9DDC Citation: De Assis JE, Brito RJ, Christoffersen ML, Souza JRB (2015) A catalogue of the scaleworm genus Lepidonotus (Polynoidae, Polychaeta) from South America, with two new records for Brazilian waters. ZooKeys 533: 63–98. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.533.6184 Abstract The genus Lepidonotus is the largest in number of species within the Polynoidae, with more than 70 described species and subspecies. A catalogue of 18 nominal species and subspecies of Lepidonotus from South America is provided, with valid names, synonyms and original citations. Redescriptions and illustrations of two species based on new specimens collected along the littoral of the State of Paraíba, northeastern Brazil are included. Lepidonotus carinulatus and Lepidonotus natalensis are reported for the first time for Brazilian waters. A comparative table of characters for all reported species and subspecies of Lepidonotus from South America is provided. Keywords Benthos, Annelida, catalogue, new record, distribution Copyright José Eriberto De Assis et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. 64 José Eriberto De Assis et al. / ZooKeys 533: 63–98 (2015) Introduction The scalewormLepidonotus belongs to the family Polynoidae, and contains more than 70 described species (Read and Fauchald 2015). They have been found from the inter- tidal to the bathyal zones, in diverse marine environments (Day 1967, Fauchald 1977, Salazar-Silva 2006, Wehe 2006). Leach (1816) established the genus Lepidonotus for the species Aphrodita clava Montagu (1808), which had been described earlier. This author did not provide iden- tifying characters of the genus, which led to subsequent confusion in the literature, causing many synonyms. Later, Seidler (1923) made a very extensive review of the Lepidonotinae, presenting descriptions and keys to more than 50 species of Lepidono- tus, but there are almost no illustrations to supplement the descriptions, nor is it clear from the text which specimens or types were examined (Wehe 2006). However, Wehe (2006) clarified that this paper is invaluable in providing base-line data and access to the literature on lepidonotid genera. Lepidonotus has a short body with 26 segments, is dorsoventrally flattened, and subrectangular in the cross-section. The prostomium is bilobed, extending anteriorly into the ceratophores of the terminally-attached lateral antennae. The antennae and cirri are smooth. A facial tubercle is present; the buccal segment is with or without nuchal fold. Twelve pairs of elytra are present on segments 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19, 21 and 23; elytra are with or without tubercles and papillae. The notopodia small or vestigial, unidentate notochaetae are short. The neuropodia are large, with or without an acicular lobe; the neurochaetae are stout, long, with subdistal spines and unidentate or occasionally bidentate tips (Fauchald 1977, Amaral and Nonato 1982, Ruff 1995, Wehe 2006). In this paper, a catalogue of the genus Lepidonotus from South America is pro- vided, and L. carinulatus and L. natalensis are redescribed, collected in the intertidal region of the State of Paraíba, northeastern Brazil. These two species are reported for the first time for Brazilian waters. Material and methods The species accounts in the catalogue are given alphabetically. Each account contains author, publication year, number of pages, figures, types, and deposition numbers, to- gether with the abbreviation of the museum or institution in which the type material is deposited, type locality with coordinatesand geographical distribution, when available. In some cases, remarks on taxonomic status of somes species are included. Synonyms are listed chronologically. A comparative table for all reported species and subspecies from South American is provided (Table 1). Specimens were collected by handpicking during low tides from the intertidal region (0.0–0.2 m) and by snorkeling to a depth of up to 5 meters along the coast of the state of Paraíba. Specimens were fixed in formaldehyde (10% in seawater), and Catalogue of Lepidonotus from South America Table 1. Comparative table for all species and subspecies of the genus Lepidonotus from South America. Characters Nuchal Posterior part of the Species Prostomium Palps Microtubercule Macrotubercule Notochaetae Neurochaetae nodules elytra Bigger central Stout, curved, with Numerous posterior Small papillae Thin capillaries in all L. arenosus Rounded Smooth Present papillae egg- spinous row, tip papillae egg-shaped chaetigers shaped bidentate Small papillae Big papillae Stout, curved, with Numerous thin Spinous ciliated L. brasiliensis Rounded Smooth Absent lunar crate- mushroom- spinous rows, tip papillae capillaries shaped shaped unidentate Small papillae Big papillae L. brasiliensis Numerous papillae in Thin capillaries, with Stout, straight, smooth Rounded Smooth Absent lunar crate- mushroom- laevis posterior elytra 3 ciliated filaments blade, unidentate shaped shaped Longer capillaries Numerous short shorter, curved and Long, strongly L. caeruleus Longer than wide Papillate Absent papillae on posterior Conical Absent dentate; shorter curved,with spinous portion capillaries long and row, tip bidentate barbed Stout, falcate, Rounded to hexagonal, With 8 rows of Spinous, superior Papillae along external Small warty Carinate tubercles subdistally thickened, L. carinulatus buccal segment with longitudi nal Present row slender, serrate edge tubercles scattered few rows of spines, tip two nuchal nodules papillae on convex side bidentate Stout, slightly curved Rounded, with Numerous short Small and thin Fairly numerous tip, with a row of L. crosslandi Smooth Absent Absent posterior nuchal fold posterior papillae tubercles capillaries spines, bidentate in two chaetigers Stout, tip slightly L. crosslandi Numerous short Small and thin Fairly numerous curved, with rows of Rounded Smooth Present Absent peruana posterior papillae tubercles capillaries strong spines, bidentate in all chaetigers With numerous Digitiform papillae Small and Curved, short, Stout, weakly L. furcillatus Rounded Absent Small, nodular papillae with central dark spot conical smooth ornamented, bidentate 65 José Eriberto De Assis et al. / ZooKeys 533: 63–98 (2015) 66 Characters Nuchal Posterior part of the Species Prostomium Palps Microtubercule Macrotubercule Notochaetae Neurochaetae nodules elytra Stout, spinous rows Fringe covering Rounded, Warty and Capillaries spinous in L. hupferi Rounded to hexagonal Smooth Absent with fine teeth, posterior part of elytra surface rough pointed all chetigers bidentate Stout, numerous L. Convex, posterior Slender papillae on Short, numerous Smooth Absent Small granules Absent rows of distal spines, margaritaceus rounded posterior border rows of small spines unidentate Long digitiform Stout, falcate, With 8 rows of Spinous, superior external papillae and Crown-like tip Crown-like tip in subdistally slightly L. natalensis Slightly hexagonal Longitud-inal row slender, tips fine, group of infero-central or without tip central region thickened, few rows of papillae pointed papillae spines, tip unidentate Convex, posterior Hemisferical, Spinous capillaries in Stout, with spinous L. nesophilus smooth Absent Absent Long spines rounded spinous all chaetigers rows, bidentate Largely hidden, convex Numerous posterior Excavate disk, cap Numerous small Chaetae shorter, Long, stout, with L. panamensis lobe projecting over A few papillae papillae and tulf of covered by many spines on centre falcate curved tip, unidentate posterior half long central papillae spines Numerous small Slender short posterior Spinous capillaries in Long, stout, tip curved, L. savygni Rounded Smooth Absent warty-shaped Warty-shaped papillae all chaetigers unidentate spines Stout, few spinous Slightly longer than Additional posterior Conical, without Spinous capillaries in L. sublevis Papillate Absent Absent rows, tip slightly wide papillae areola all chaetigers hooked Stouter, falcate, Slender, numerous Blunt or Very small, numerous distal Oblong, no cephalic Slender posterior rows of small spines L. teinuetosus Smooth Absent somewhat warty conical or spine rows, d mostly peaks papillae and capillary tips tips globular unidentate, few spines tapering minutely bidentate Numerous large Numerous warts Spinous capillaries in Stout, with spinous L. tomentosus