Dodecaceria carolinae n. sp. (Polychaeta: Cirratulidae), a shallow-water species from the northwestern Caribbean Sea

Abstract

The cirratulid genus Dodecaceria Örsted, 1843 is well characterized by having palps inserted dorsally or laterally and branchial filaments restricted to some anterior chaetigers. The genus has species recorded from many marine environments worldwide and species are differentiated mainly by the number of branchial filaments. In this contribution, D. carolinae n. sp. is described based upon extensive materials collected in the northwestern Caribbean Sea. This species is distinguished by having 12 pairs of branchiae in two distinctive sizes, the first three four times longer than the remaining ones, and by having spoon-shaped hooks from notopodia 14-19 and from neuropodia 13-18. An analysis of the intra-specific variability, together with a table of diagnostic features and a key to all known species, is also included.