June, 1999 
SCAMIT Newsletter 
Vol. 18, No. 2 
confused with extended nuchal organs or intra- 
segmental transverse ciliated dorsal structures, 
which are seen in male Pygospio elegans (see 
Schlotzer-Schrehardt 1991). These dorsal 
organs may be a very worthwhile diagnostic 
character, although several past authors have 
not made mention of their presence and among 
the authors that have, opinions vary as to their 
origin and homology. Below is an illustration 
of Spio sp. A of Harris showing the distinct 
sideways “U” shaped dorsal organs. While this 
particular animal fits Maciolek’s 1990 
description of Spio filicornis (Muller 1776) 
the dorsal organs of Leslie’s Spio sp. A are 
quite different from those illustrated for S. 
filicornis by Soderstrom 1920 & 1927 and also 
by Orrhage 1964. SCAMIT members may 
want to keep an eye open for these unusual 
organs on their spionids. If anyone does 
happen to notice these structures on one of 
their animals please bring it to a future 
SCAMIT polychaete meeting for show and tell. 
Although Tom Parker was unable to attend he 
sent several of his provisional polychaete 
species from the Bight’98 along with voucher 
sheets for members to examine. We first 
looked at a syllid referred to as Odontosyllis sp 
LA2. It was from station 2522 (86m), E. of 
Santa Cruz Island. Its distinguishing features 
included a reduced prostomial flap that barely 
covered 1/3 of the prostomium. It had a 
distinct pigment pattern consisting of 3 vertical 
rows of dorsal spots running down the body. 
Both Leslie Harris and Tony Phillips 
recognized this animal immediately. Tony has 
reported it for several years in Santa Monica 
Bay as Odontosyllis sp 1 of Harris 1977. 
However a description of Odontosyllis sp 1 of 
Harris has not been distributed thru SCAMIT 
and it is not on the SCAMIT species list so 
many members were unaware of its presence. 
Leslie mentioned that larger sized animals 
often have their spots connected forming 3 
vertical lines running down the body where the 
center line is often the darkest. 
Next we examined another syllid of Tom’s 
referred to as Plakosyllis sp LAI from station 
2490 (75m), W. of San Miguel Island. It had a 
very flat broad body with rounded or globular 
dorsal cirri. Eyes both dorsal and ventral and a 
proventricle 3-4 segments long. It also had 
several simple spines on the 2 nd to the last 
segment. No SCAMIT members present had 
seen anything like this. Leslie had a few 
undescribed Plakosyllis , one from a rocky area 
and one from shallow soft sediments but 
neither looked like this. It will remain as 
Plakosyllis sp LAI. 
Tom had also sent to the meeting an 
ampharetid, Schistocomus sp LAI. Anteriorly 
the body was broad and it tapered narrowly in 
the posterior. The prostomium was flared out 
as a shelf off the body. The animal was very 
pigmented with the dorsum crossed by 
orangish colored transverse bars and the base 
of each parapod with a dot of pigment. The 
branchia were also pigmented and the 
prostomium had a pigment “mask”. The lower 
lip had lateral and central pigmentation. When 
Leslie Harris examined the animal at the 
meeting she recognized this highly pigmented 
animal as Schistocomus sp A of SCAMIT 
1987. She said that a live specimen of this 
species had all this pigmentation. Often strong 
pigmentation fades in alcohol, but not always. 
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