Genus Syllis Savigny _in Lamarck, 1818 



TYPE SPECIES: Syllis monilaris Savigny in Lamarck, 1818. 

 REFERENCES : 

 Pettibone, 1963:113. 

 Day, 1967:239. 

 Gardiner, 1976:138. 



DIAGNOSIS ( sensu lato) : Body cylindrical. Prostoraium with three anten- 

 nae. Nuchal organs as paired, ciliated lobes between prostoraium and 

 peristoraium. Two pairs of tentacular cirri. Antennae, tentacular and 

 dorsal cirri articled. Setae mostly composite, with additional solitary 

 superior and inferior simple setae posteriorly. Pharynx with smooth 

 margin and a subterminal middorsal tooth. 



REMARKS: Some authors, particularly 0. Hartman and K. Fauchald, have 

 used the genus Syllis in the strict sense, excluding Ehler sia and 

 Typosy His and considering them to be full genera. However, the dis- 

 tinction between Syllis , Ehlersia and Typosyllis is based upon narrowly 

 defined setal characteristics not generally used to separate other 

 syllid genera. Also, the splitting of Syllis into these three genera 

 does not achieve the practical goal of substantially reducing the size 

 of the large Typosy 11 is- group. Finally, the three groups, as routinely 

 defined, are not sharply delineated from each other. For these reasons, 

 the genus Syllis is maintained here in the broad sense to include the 

 subgenera Syllis , Ehlersia and Typosyllis. 



Subgenus Syllis Langerhans, 1879 



TYPE SPECIES: Syllis monilaris Savigny i_n Lamarck, 1818. 



REFERENCE: 



Fauchald, 1977a:84. 



DIAGNOSIS: Modified, simple or pseudocomposite setae present in midbody 



region. 



Syllis (Syllis) gracilis Grube, 1840 

 Figures 30-111, 112a-h 



Syllis gracilis Grube, 1840:77. 



Syllis gracilis— Fauvel, 1923:259, fig. 96f-i. 



Syllis gracilis — Pettibone, 1963:116, fig. 32a-e. 



Syllis gracilis — Imajima, 1966:248, fig. 49a-k. 



Syllis ( Syllis) gracilis — Day, 1967:241, fig. 12.1.m-p. 



Syllis ( Syllis ) gracilis— Gardiner, 1976:139, fig. 12 1-n. 



MATERIAL EXAMINED: 



Gulf of Mexico BLM-OCS: 



SOFLA 14D-7/81 (1 spec, USNM 89882); MAFLA 2211G-7/76 (1 spec), 2211H- 



7/76 (3 spec), 2211K-8/77 (1 spec), 2315A-8/76 (2 spec), 2423F-11/77 



(1 spec), 2528-11/77 (1 spec, USNM 55829); STOCS HR1-2 11/76 (1 spec, 



USNM 89883). 



Supplementary Material: 



Florida — Hutchinson Island, St. Lucie County, 1973, T. Perkins ID. (3 



spec, USNM 54575). 



30-116 



