160 
THE CORAL TRIANGLE: HEARST BIODIVERSITY EXPEDITION 
tubercles transversely elongated, swollen, thin walled, with medial lateral swelling. Delicate, trans¬ 
verse folds extend between dorsal tubercles on segments 6 and 8. 
Dorsal cirri (Fig. Id) with cylindrical cirrophores, lacking pigment, bulbous basally; styles 
elongate, slender, papillate, with filiform tips, styles extend beyond elytra margins and longest neu- 
rochaetae when preserved. Ventral cirri long, gently tapering, finely papillated; style length equiv¬ 
alent to distance between parapodium base and neurochaetae insertion. Nephridial papillae small. 
Parapodia biramous. Notopodia small, neuropodium larger with digiform acicular process 
(Fig. 2f 1). Presetal and postsetal lobes low, rounded, with distinct ventral notch between lobes in 
line with posterior edge of ventral cirrus insertion when viewed posteriorly. Lobes with small dig- 
itifoim papillae distally (Fig. 2f 1). 
Notochaetae in plume-like white bundles, numerous, fine, pinnate, flexible capillaries (Figs. 
2e, 3a), ventral-most notochaetae collect debris; ultrastructure (Figs. 3b-d) a series of fine, cirri- 
form projections, combining longitudinally fonning nested cups along length of chaetal shaft; pro¬ 
jections most visible when chaeta bent to expose cross-section (Fig. 3d); viewed laterally cups 
appear as pmnate leaves; leaves more detached and pointed towards chaetal shaft base (Fig. 3a). 
Eight horizontal rows stout, light yellow-gold neurochaetae (Fig. 2g-h), subdistally expanded; 
close set spinous rows cover expanded region below entire, slightly hooked bare tips (Figs. 3e-i). 
Upper neurochaetae (Figs. 3e-f) with most spinous rows; lower neurochaeetae (Figs. 3h-i) with 
fewer rows. Segment 2 neurochaetae and lower neurochaetae of segments 3 slender, with longer 
region of close set spinous rows; neurochaetae taper to sharp curved unidentate tip. Dorsal neu¬ 
rochaetae extend slightly beyond notochaetae and elytra in preseiwed specimen. 
No distinct pygidium; anal cim absent. Anus dorsal on segments 27-29. 
Distribution. — Known only from holotype specimen from Maricaban Island, Philippines. 
Etymology. — The name maUfera (Latin = apple-bearing) refers to the presence of large 
round-tipped macrotubercles on all elytra, and is similar to melas (Greek = black) which describes 
the darkly pigmented palps. The specific epithet also plays upon a similarity between the genus 
name and that of a modem mobile device. 
Remarks. — The new species can readily be distmguished from all other Iphione species by 
the presence of exceptionally large, cylindrical, round-tipped macrotubercles. /. maJifera differs 
from /. muricata specimens collected from Philippine reefs and from the Indian Ocean by the pres¬ 
ence of inflated, cylindrical macro tubercles rather than spinous conical tubercles near posterior ely- 
tral margins as in /. muricata. I. malifera has a more drastically tapered body, nan’ow and elongate 
dark palps, dull yellow neurochaetae rather than dark gold as in L muricata, and buccal ciiri 
approximately equivalent in length to the tentacular cini. 
The holotype of I. ovata was examined, from which the new species differs by the presence of 
cylindrical, round-tipped macrotubercles and the presence of papillae on lateral edges of elytra. The 
cylindrical macrotubercles of /. malifera also markedly differ from the more conical, spiny tuber¬ 
cles on the elytra of the holotype of Iphione fustis, a taxon described from the Philippines by 
Hoagland (1920) as bearing “cudgel-like” spines [tubercles] and which has since been syn- 
onymized with I. muricata by Pettibone (1986). The paratype of I. fustis examined in this study 
bears macrotubercles similar to those of /. muricata, supporting Pettibone’s synonymy. The new 
species differs markedly from the holotype of Iphione reticulata examined. The latter species bears 
Figure 3. Iphione maJifera sp. nov., holotype (CASIZ 186700), a. Middle notochaeta from segment 15. b. Same as 
magnified SEM image of midshaft section, c. SEM of notochaetae segment 15 featuring ultrastructure of papillae cups. d. 
Bent notochaeta segment 15 featuring ultra structure of papillae cups. e. Lower neurochaeta from segment 15. f Same mag¬ 
nified distal region, g. SEM of same, opposite perspective h. Upper neurochaeta from segment 15. i. Same magnified, dis¬ 
tal region.). SEM of same, subdistal expanded region with spinous rows. Scalebars.- a: 100 pm; b: 2 pm; e,d,f,g,i: 20 pm; 
e,h: 40 pm; j: 6 pm. 
