PROCEEDINGS OF THE UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



issued i^^(vA„Q?Mi ^y '^<^ 



SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 

 U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Vol. 99 Washington : 1949 No. 3250 



A NEW MARINE ANNELID FROM FLORIDA 



By Olga Hartman 



Sixteen or more species and subspecies of the annelid genus Sabel- 

 laria Lamarck (family Sabellariidae Johnston) have been named from 

 widely scattered localities. Three are described from New Zealand 

 (Augener, 1926), 2 come from west Africa (Augener, 1918), 2 are 

 from India or Indo-Pacific areas (Gravier, 1909, and Fauvel, 1930), 

 2 are European (Fauvel, 1927), and 12 are from various parts of 

 the Western Hemisphere (Hartman, 1944). Most species occur in 

 warmer seas and littoral zones. The recovery of yet another one from 

 Florida is the basis of this report. The specimens were collected by 

 Prof. T. A. Stephenson, of the University College of Wales, for whom 

 the subspecies is named. The type collection is deposited in the United 

 States National Museum. The illustrations were drawn by Anker 

 Petersen. 



The most conspicuous characters that distinguish the known species 

 of the genus SabeUaria from one another are structural features of 

 the opercular paleae, usually designated for their position in outer, 

 middle, and inner rows, although the last two rows are presumed to 

 represent a single one in alternating series. These paleae are seg- 

 mentally formed setal modifications that arise from notopodial parts 

 of the first several (possibly two) visible segments. These parts are 

 conspicuously shifted forward at the time of metamorphosis so as to 

 lie in front of the oral structures (see fig. 40, a) . During the life of 

 the individual the paleae are continuously formed as secretions of 

 special cells located at the dorsal end of the setal fascicles, and are 

 replaced, as are other setae. In consequence, younger or smaller in- 



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