First record of Paraprionospio coora Wilson, 1990 (Polychaeta: Spionidae) from the Mediterranean Sea

Abstract

The spionid polychaete Paraprionospio pinnata (Ehlers, 1901) has been widely reported from the Mediterranean Sea. We examined some specimens belonging to the genus Paraprionospio that had been collected from the Aegean Sea, the Sea of Marmara and the Spanish Mediterranean coast, and identified them as Paraprionospio coora Wilson, 1990, which is new to the Mediterranean fauna. This finding indicates that P. coora has a widespread geographical distribution in Australia, the Far East and the Mediterranean, and suggests that the previous records of P. pinnata from the Mediterranean are questionable.