A new species of Polyodontes (Annelida: Acoetidae) from Western Japan

Abstract

Acoetid polychaetes were collected from shallow waters off Kochi Prefecture and Wakayama Prefecture, Japan. The specimens could be assigned to the genus Polyodontes Blainville, 1828, but are different from all the known species of the genus by the following characters: ommatophores with short neck; palps with minute papillae; parapodia without branchiae; the acicular neurochaetae always lacking aristae and having hairs only on a small area of their subdistal end; and antennae with brown dots. They are herein morphologically described as a new species and a partial 658-bp COI sequence as a DNA barcode is provided for future taxonomic studies.