148 
THE CORAL TRIANGLE: HEARST BIODIVERSITY EXPEDITION 
sequence evolution for each partition was selected implementing the Akaike infonnation criterion 
(AIC) in Modeltest 3.7 (Posada and Crandall 1998). For the three combined genes, General Time 
Reversible model was implemented with gamma distributed rate across sites and with a proportion 
of the sites invariable (GTR + G + 1). The holotype has been deposited at the California Academy 
of Sciences in the Invertebrate Zoology collections (CASIZ), USA, and the paratype in the Museo 
Nacional de Ciencias Naturales de Madrid (MNCN), Spain. 
Results 
Molecular analysis 
The COI data set consists of 658 aligned positions, of which 303 are parsimony-informative 
and 343 are variable but not parsimony-informative. The 16SrDNA data set consists of 455 aligned 
positions, of which 237 are parsimony-infomiative and 272 are variable but not parsimony-inform¬ 
ative. All Myrianida nodes of the combined phylogenetic tree (Fig. 4) including both mitochondr¬ 
ial and nuclear data sets also occur in a separate analysis of only mitochondrial data, each node 
having posterior probabilities (PP > 0.97, except for the M. dentalia (Imajima, 1966) and M. flava 
(Nygren, 2004) node. The clade comprising M. brachycephala (Marenzeller, 1874), M. edwardsi 
(Saint Joseph, 1887), M prolifera (O.F. Mueller, 1788), M. langerhansi (Gidholm, 1967) and 
M. pinnigera (Montagu, 1808) as a sister group to M dentalia, M. flava, M. inerniis (Saint Joseph, 
1887), M. longoprimicirrata (Lopez, San Martin, and Jimenez, 1997) andM pentadentata (Imaji¬ 
ma, 1966) presents a PP of 0.59 and a bootstrap of 51 in analyses of both mitochondrial and com¬ 
bined data sets. 
Taxonomy 
Genus Myrianida Milne Edwards, 1845 
Myrianida puladilaw sp. nov. 
Material EXAMINED.— Holotype: (CASIZ 185700) and one paratype mounted for SEM 
(MNCN 16.01/14734). Philippines: Luzon Island, Batangas Province: Calumpan Peninsula: Dead 
Palm dive site, hidden in coral rubble. Hearst Philippine Biodiversity Expedition 2011. Station 
HEP-26. 13.69569 N 120.88472 E. Coll: Bryan Rodriguez and Christina Piotrowski by SCUBA 3 
May 2011. 
Diagnosis. — Characteristicred and yellow pattern, long median antenna, long nuchal 
epaulettes, and a trepan with 18-20 equal teeth. 
Description. — Holotype: 4.5 mm long, 0.3 mm wide, 39 chaetigers, one large female with 
stolon attached (Fig. lA). Paratype: 3.5 mm long, 0.3 mm wide, 38 chaetigers, 4 female stolons 
attached (Fig. IB, 3G-H). Living specimens with anterior three segments brightly red, remaining 
body with yellow background and successive groups of four to six red bands (Fig. lA-C). Pros- 
tomium yellow, ovate, with four small, red eyes in trapezoidal arrangement (Fig 1C); antennae, ten¬ 
tacular cirri and dorsal cirri of chaetiger 1 white; parapodia and remaining dorsal cirri yellow (Figs. 
lA-C). Stolons with similar color pattern (Figs lA, IB). Ciliation on prostomium, nuchal 
epaulettes, on one dorsal band per segment reaching cirrophores and on antennae, tentacular cin*i 
and dorsal cirri (Figs. 2A, 2B, 2C; 3A-C). Palps fused, not visible in dorsal view (Fig. lA-C, 2A). 
Nuchal epaulettes strongly red in vivo, extending to end of chaetiger 4 (Figs. 1C, 2A, C). Median 
antenna very long, reaching chaetiger 11-12 (Fig. IB, 2B), missing in holotype. Lateral antennae 
shorter, Vi of median antennae. Dorsal tentacular cirri similar in length to lateral antennae; ventral 
