May, 1999 
SCAMIT Newsletter 
Vol. 18, No.l 
The next family discussed was nephtyids. Rick 
Rowe has a relatively new key which includes 
2 new species, Nephtys sp SD 2 and Nephtys 
simoni. Rick commented that he has identified 
similarly-sized N.ferruginea and N. simoni 
from the same sample. Tony Phillips found 
that he can observe the brain morphology of 
juvenile Nephtys by simply staining the entire 
animal with methyl green. However, larger 
specimens must be dissected first and then 
stained. 
Capitellidae was the next family considered. 
There has been some confusion with specimens 
that we have been calling Notomastus tenuis 
Moore, 1909 locally. The type specimen of 
Notomastus hemipodus Hartman, 1947 has 
been examined by Leslie Harris. Leslie 
originally noted at a SCAMIT meeting (August 
12, 1996) that when she methyl green stained 
the type specimen of N. hemipodus the double, 
midventral racing stripe pattern was present. 
When she stained Moore’s type specimen of N. 
tenuis no staining pattern was revealed. 
Although not reported by Moore, 1909 in the 
original description, Leslie also noted that the 
first setiger in N. tenuis is uniramous. Based 
on Leslie’s examination of both type specimens 
and her familiarity with our local fauna, she 
reported that Moore’s Notomastus tenuis is 
probably a shallow, bay, mudflat, and harbor 
species and Notomastus hemipodus stains like 
our common offshore species. But since N. 
hemipodus was originally described from 
shallow waters in North Carolina use of that 
name locally requires further investigation. To 
avoid confusion reporting data for the Bight 98 
project, we will continue to report the offshore 
species (the “double, ventral racing stripe” 
staining pattern specimens) as Notomastus 
tenuis. Rick Rowe has offered to produce a 
voucher sheet(s) for the embayment species 
using the name(s) Notomastus sp SD 1 (sp SD 
2, etc.). Clarification of the proper names to 
apply to our local species of Notomastus , 
including the correction of the misuse of N. 
tenuis, will be considered at a future SCAMIT 
meeting. 
Next, Tony Phillips showed us a specimen of 
Pseudoleiocapitella that he identified using 
Fauchald 1977. In this genus, the thorax has 
ten segments, there is one asetigerous segment, 
and the first setiger is complete. On Tony’s 
specimen, there was a mixture of capillary and 
hooded hooks on setiger 10. 
Larry Lovell notified everyone that he has been 
getting Amastigos acutus at some shallow 
water stations. This species is small and 
threadlike with hooded hooks only (no 
capillary setae present). Tony Phillips has been 
encountering specimens of Anotomastus 
gordiodes in his bay samples. This species has 
a distinct prostomium, the thorax has 17-18 
setigers with capillary setae, and the cuticle has 
a sheen to it. A methyl green pattern is solid 
staining on setigers 5-17, followed by a 
banding stain pattern from setiger 17 to about 
setiger 30. 
Leslie passed around a new journal article by 
Eijiroh Nashi (1999) titled “Redescription of 
Mesochaetopterus selangolus (Polychaeta: 
Chaetopteridae), based on type specimens and 
recently collected material from Morib Beach, 
Malaysia”. This article contains a table which 
compares characters of 12 species of 
Mesochaetopterus , including our local 
California species, M. taylori and M. ricketsii. 
The table should prove to be useful in our 
identifications of Mesochaetopterus. SCAMIT 
hopes to include this table as an attachment to 
the Newsletter in a future edition, but first, 
permission to distribute the table must be 
attained from Pacific Science. 
The next group discussed was scaleworms. 
Cheryl Brantley brought in a very nice 
specimen of Malmgreniella sanpedroensis 
from station 2204, west of White’s Point, Palos 
Verde, 76 m. Rick Rowe showed us some 
excellent digital images of M. sanpedroensis , 
and we discussed some of the distinguishing 
characteristics of this species. There are red 
pigmented spots on the ventral cirri and on the 
supra-acicular lobes. Most specimens also 
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