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Records of the Australian Museum (2009) Vol. 61 
Figure 1. The islands off the Kimberley Plateau North Western Australia from where the serpulid polychaetes described in this paper 
were collected. 
Abbreviations and terminology used 
Tube. Median longitudinal ridge (MLR)-, lateral longitudinal 
ridge ( LLR ) = longitudinal ridge on either side of MLR-, 
outer lateral longitudinal ridge ( OLLR ) = longitudinal ridges 
outer to LLR. 
Chaetae. Collar chaetal fascicles usually consist of two 
types of chaetae, special collar chaetae (= “Les soies 
speciales du ler setigere” [Zibrowius, 1968]) or “ special 
chaetae ” (ten Hove & Zibrowius, 1986), and simple 
blades, the latter also referred to in the literature as 
simple limbate chaetae, or capillaries when a blade is not 
clearly discernible or lacking. The terms special collar 
chaetae, simple blades and capillaries are employed in the 
descriptions which follow. 
The structure of special collar chaetae is recognized 
by authors to be characteristic for various taxa. Those 
described as being bayonet-shaped chaetae occur among 
taxa belonging to the genera Pomatostegus, Spirobranchus, 
and in the subfamily Serpulinae sensu stricto. Taxa belonging 
to the latter frequently but not always bear a number of 
conspicuous teeth on the boss of the chaetal shaft; as shown 
by ten Hove & Weerdenburg (1984: 148-149) they possess 
an unserrated notch between the boss of the chaetal shaft and 
blade. In contrast, an unserrated notch is absent between the 
boss and the blade in Spirobranchus. 
Although collar chaetae had frequently been described and 
figured under optical microscopes as being merely serrated, 
mostly along one plane, the actual arrangement of the 
serrations is more complicated, as seen, for example, in SEM 
of notochaetae from the 1st and 2nd thoracic segments of the 
serpulid Paraprotis dendrova Uchida, 1978, by Nishi (1992: 
figs B and C, respectively) and ten Hove & Kupriyanova 
(2009: figs 17A, 20A). 
The unmodified thoracic notochaetae in serpulimorphs 
have sometimes been termed ‘hooded’ chaetae. For example, 
ten Hove & Nishi (1996: 89) describe them in Spirobranchus 
corrugatus as being narrowly hooded (capillaries) in 
the collar fascicle, and broadly hooded (limbate) in the 
remaining thoracic chaetigers. It is not always easy to make 
distinctions between the two types, and since intermediate 
forms frequently occur, the terms are not used in this paper. 
Some posterior thoracic chaetigers in certain serpulimorph 
taxa bear chaetae which have been referred to by various 
authors as Apomatus- chaetae, chaetae of Apomatus, sickle¬ 
shaped chaetae, or simply as sickles. They are referred to as 
sickle-shaped chaetae or sickles in the following descriptions 
to avoid having to liken them to chaetae occurring in another 
genus, namely Apomatus. 
Apron. In many serpulid taxa the dorsally occurring thoracic 
membranes of the two sides extend past the last pair of thoracic 
chaetigers and unite ventrally as a transverse membraneous 
flap across the anterior abdominal segments, aptly termed 
“apron” by ten Hove & Weerdenburg (1984: 158). 
Other abbreviations: AM = Australian Museum, Sydney; 
AM W = prefix for AM registration numbers; NHM = Natural 
History Museum, London; BMNH = prefix for British 
Museum (Natural History) registration numbers; ZMK = 
Zoological Museum, Kqbenhavn (Copenhagen). 
Reference to figures in the present document begin in 
upper case, e.g., Fig. 12; reference to other figures begin in 
lowercase, e.g., Pillai, 1961: fig. 12. 
