Extirpation of hediste japonica (Izuka, 1908) (Nereididae, polychaeta) in central Japan, evidenced by a museum historical collection

Abstract

A total of 11 specimens of a nereidid polychaete, which had been collected from the inner part ("Bay of Miya" is the old place name) of Ise Bay in central Japan and preserved in the Natural History Museum Vienna, were taxonomicaily examined. They were all identified as the brackish- water nereidid, Hediste japonica (Izuka, 1908), which was previously known only from the Ariake Sea and Seto Inland Sea in western Japan and the western coast of Korea. The new information indicates that this species formerly had a wider distribution extending to at least Ise Bay in central Japan, though all Japanese populations of this species seem to have been extirpated except for a population remaining in the Ariake Sea. © 2009 Zoological Society of Japan.