Polychaeta is a paraphyletic class of generally marine annelid worms, commonly called bristle worms or polychaetes. Each body segment has a pair of fleshy protrusions called parapodia that bear many bristles, called chaetae, which are made of chitin. More than 10,000 species are described in this class. Common representatives include the lugworm and the sandworm or clam worm Alitta.
Phyllodocida is an order of polychaete worms in the subclass Aciculata. These worms are mostly marine though some are found in brackish water. Most are active benthic creatures, moving over the surface or burrowing in sediments, or living in cracks and crevices in bedrock. A few construct tubes in which they live and some are pelagic, swimming through the water column. There are estimated to be about 3,500 species in the order.
Neofibularia nolitangere, commonly known as the touch-me-not sponge, is a species of sea sponge in the family Biemnidae. It is found in shallow waters in the Western Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea.
Haplosyllis spongicola, the sponge worm, is a species of polychaete worm in the family Syllidae. It was previously classified as Syllis spongicola and is part of a species complex of closely related species that are difficult to distinguish morphologically and where the demarcation between them is unclear. It is found in shallow temperate, subtropical and tropical seas worldwide, wherever its host sponges are found.
Pilargidae is a family of polychaetes. These marine worms are cylindrical, somewhat flattened, and can be ribbon-like. They can be found free-living on sediment, or shallowly in sediment. Some species within the genera Hermundura and Litocorsa are known to burrow, having reduced heads and parapodia. Two species are known to be commensal with other polychaetes. Pilargis berkeleyae will live in the tubes of Chaetopteridae, and Ancistrosyllis commensalis will live in Capitellidae burrows. Pilargid worms are almost all exclusively predators, classified as carnivore omnivores. They are similar in appearance to Hesionidae, with a peristomium often with two pairs of tentacular cirri, reduced or absent notopodia, and a lack of pharyngeal jaws. The first few segments bearing setigers are also somewhat fused. They can have 0 to 3 antennae, and palps. These polychaetes are rarely the most abundant polychaete.
In biology, a cirrusSIRR-əs, plural cirri, SIRR-eye, is a long, thin structure in an animal similar to a tentacle but generally lacking the tentacle's strength, flexibility, thickness, and sensitivity.
Prosphaerosyllis battiri is a species belonging to the phylum Annelida, a group known as the segmented worms. The species name comes from an Aboriginal word, battiri, meaning "rough". Prosphaerosyllis battiri is a species characterized by having only partially fused palps, an unretracted prostomium on its peristomium or showing only slight retraction, the shape of its dorsal cirri and its arrangement of papillae, being numerous anteriorly while less numerous posteriorly. It resembles Prosphaerosyllis semiverrucosa, but its arrangement of dorsal papillae is reversed.
Salvatoria pilkena is a species belonging to the phylum Annelida, a group known as the segmented worms. The species name comes from an Aboriginal word, pilkena, meaning "different", due to its characteristic features. Salvatoria pilkena belongs to a reduced group of species that possess rugose dorsal cirri, contrary to the typical spindle-shaped cirri found in its genus. It also lacks dorsal cirri on chaetiger 2. It resembles Salvatoria swedmarki and S. celiae, differing from pilkena in that the latter has significantly longer proventricles, while its compound chaetae are short and unidentate. At the same time, S. opisthodentata has a similar body and compound chaetae but appears to possess dorsal cirri on its chaetiger 2.
Salvatoria koorineclavata is a species belonging to the phylum Annelida, a group known as the segmented worms. A related species in Australia has been described as Brania clavata and subsequently as Salvatoria clavata. While similar, the Australian species has a longer pharynx and proventricle; at the same time, blades of chaetae are present in the Australian species, with longer and upwards curved spines, which are straight in S. clavata; its pharyngeal tooth is located more anteriorly than in S. clavata. Other global species, like those in the genus Brania, are also similar to S. koorineclavata. Salvatoria californiensis has similar chaetae, with shorter spines and less developed teeth. Its acicula lacks a defined acute tip, and the proventricle is quite shorter, running through 5 segments in S. koorineclavata, with fewer rows of muscle cells. The species name comes from an Aboriginal word, Koorine, meaning "daughter", due to the similarity of the Australian species to the European species of S. clavata.
Erinaceusyllis hartmannschroederae is a species belonging to the phylum Annelida, a group known as the segmented worms. This species was previously described in Australia as Sphaerosyllis erinaceus and S. erinaceus erinaceus, a species distributed throughout the globe. These species appear to be a species complex. Previous descriptions stated that the two aforementioned species possess compound chaetae blades which are long and slender. Several subspecies of S. erinaceus were described on the basis of differences in shapes and sizes of their compound chaetae; such differences are enough to consider them as distinct species. The species is named in honour of Gesa Hartmann-Schröder, an expert on syllid species.
Erinaceusyllis kathrynae is a species belonging to the phylum Annelida, a group known as the segmented worms. E. kathrynaen is similar to E. cirripapillata, but lacks characteristic papillae on its cirri. At the same time, Sphaerosyllis perspicax - which according to San Martín (2005) could belong to the genus Erinaceusyllis - is also similar, but its anterior dorsal cirri are inflated at their bases; the eyes and antennae are arranged linearly, and the palps are fused along their length. This species is named in honour of Kathryn Attwood of the Australian Museum.
Sphaerosyllis bardukaciculata is a species belonging to the phylum Annelida, a group known as the segmented worms. Sphaerosyllis bardukaciculatan is similar to Sphaerosyllis aciculata from Florida; its chaetae are almost identical; the former, however, differs by having longer antennae and anal cirri, as well as parapodial glands with granular material. The animal's name is derived from the Aboriginal word barduk, meaning "near", alluding to the aforementioned likeness with S. aciculata.
Phyllodoce mucosa is a species of polychaete worm in the family Phyllodocidae. It is found intertidally in both the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, typically on sandy or muddy seabeds.
Phyllodocidae is a family of polychaete worms. Worms in this family live on the seabed and may burrow under the sediment.
Syllis ramosa is a species of polychaete worm in the family Syllidae. It is found in the deep sea where it lives within the tissues of a sponge. It was the first branching polychaete worm to be discovered, with each worm having a single head and multiple anuses.
Syllidae is a family of small to medium-sized polychaete worms. Syllids are distinguished from other polychaetes by the presence of a muscular region of the anterior digestive tract known as the proventricle.
Austropolaria is a genus of marine annelids in the family Polynoidae. The genus includes a single species, Austropolaria magnicirrata, which is known only from the Amundsen Sea in the Southern Ocean, at depths of 1000 to 1500m.
Neopolynoe antarctica is a scale worm known from the Magallanes Region of the South Atlantic Ocean and from the Southern Ocean south of New Zealand at depths to about 200 m.
Ramisyllis is a small genus of polychaete annelid marine worms. Both species are characterised by their branching body plans. Both species are found in shallow water, with R. multicaudata native to Darwin Harbour, Australia, and R. kingghidorahi native to the Sea of Japan near Sado Island, Japan.
Ramisyllis kingghidorahi is a species of polychaete worm in the family Syllidae. The species lives in the Sea of Japan off Sado Island, Japan, where the holotype was found living within the internal canals of a sponge of the genus Petrosia.
