Species Namalycastis abiuma (Grube, 1872)

Museums

Regional Maps

• Lycastis abiuma Grube, A.-E 1872. Über die Gattung Lycastis und ein paar neue Arten derselben. Jahresbericht der Schlesischen Gesellschaft für Vaterländische Kultur, Breslau 49: 47-48 [47-48].

  Type data:

   Holotype ZMB Q3436 (141 segments), Desterro [= Santa Catarina Island], Brazil.
• Lycastis meraukensis Horst, R 1918. On a species of Lycastis and three aberrant forms of Nereidae from the Dutch East Indies. Zoologische Mededelingen (Leiden) 4: 246-250 [246-247].

  Type data:

   Status unknown, ZMH V10641, New Guinea.
• Lycastis nipae Pflugfelder, O. 1933. Landpolychaeten aus Niederländisch-Indien. (Ergebnisse der Sunda-Expedition der Notgemeinschaft der Deutschen Wissenschaft 1929/30). Zoologischer Anzeiger 105(3/4): 65-76 [68-69].

  Type data:

   Holotype PMJ Ann. 163, Sumatra.
  Paratype(s) PMJ Ann. 164.
• Lycastis vivax Pflugfelder, O. 1933. Landpolychaeten aus Niederländisch-Indien. (Ergebnisse der Sunda-Expedition der Notgemeinschaft der Deutschen Wissenschaft 1929/30). Zoologischer Anzeiger 105(3/4): 65-76 [69].

  Type data:

   Syntype(s) PMJ Ann. 165, Sumatra.
• Namalycastis meraukensis zeylanica de Silva, P.H.D.H. 1961. Contribution to the knowledge of the Polychaete Fauna of Ceylon (Part 1). Spolia Zeylanica 29(2): 164-194 [172-173].

  Type data:

   Syntype(s) COM AP2, Dondra Head, Sri Lanka.
• Namalycastis rigida Pillai, T.G. 1965. Annelida Polychaeta from the Philippines and Indonesia. Ceylon Journal of Science Biological Sciences 5(2): 110-177 [131-136].

  Type data:

   Holotype Luzon, Philippines.
  Paratype(s) BMNH ZK 1965.33.13-15, Luzon, Philippines; UPSL RTS 18, Luzon, Philippines.

Introduction

The species was first reported from Lizard Island by Glasby (1999), albeit as a 'species group' due to significant intraspecific variation. A subsequent combined morphometric and genetic study of the species group in India demonstrated the presence of multiple cryptic species within one region (See Magesh et al. (2014)). Glasby (2015) hypothesizes that specimens found at Lizard Island are unlikely to be true representatives of Namalycastis abiuma, but refrains from describing the Lizard Island specimens as a new species until further material is collected for genetic analyses.

Distribution

States

Queensland, Western Australia

IBRA and IMCRA regions

IMCRA

Timor Transition (1), Northern Shelf Province (25), Northwest Shelf Transition (26), Northwest Shelf Province (27), Central Eastern Shelf Province (38), Central Eastern Shelf Transition (39), Northeast Shelf Province (40), Northeast Shelf Transition (41)

Ecological Descriptors

Estuary, intertidal, mangrove.

Extra Ecological Information

On mud flats.

Citations

Lycastis meraukensis.
—Fauvel, P. 1932. Annelida Polychaeta of the Indian Museum, Calcutta. Memoirs of the Indian Museum 12: 1–262 [82].
—Fauvel, P. 1953. The Fauna of India, including Pakistan, Ceylon, Burma and Malaya. Annelida Polychaeta. Allahabad : The Indian Press 1–507 pp. [166–167, fig. 85b].

Namalycastis abiuma.
—Wu, B.-L. & Chen, M. 1963. [Some Fresh-Water and Mixohaline Water Polychaeta from China.]. Oceanologia et Limnologia Sinica 5: 18–33 [20].
—Kirkegaard, J.B. 1983. Bathyal benthic polychaetes from the N.E. Atlantic Ocean, S.W. of the British Isles. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 63: 593–608 [225–226].
—Glasby, C.J. 1999. The Namanereidinae (Polychaeta: Nereididae. Part 1, taxonomy and phylogeny. Records of the Australian Museum, Supplement 25: 1–100 [31–35, figs 1, 8–10].

Misidentifications

as Lycastis senegalensis.
—Monro, C.C.A. 1939. Polychaeta. Reports of the British and New Zealand Antarctic Research Expedition 1929-1931 (Zoology and Botany) B 4: 87–156 [117].

as Lycastis indica.
—Horst, R 1924. Polychaeta Errantia of the Siboga Expedition. Part III. Nereidae and Hesionidae. Siboga-Expeditie, Leiden 99: 145–198 [148].

as Namalycastis indica.
—Wu, S.-K. 1967. The nereid worms of Taiwan. Bulletin of the Institute of Zoology Academia Sinica. Taipei 6: 47–76 [51–52, fig. 2].
—Day, J.H. 1967. A Monograph on the Polychaeta of Southern Africa. Pt 1, Erranta pp. 1–458; Pt 2, Sedentaria pp. 459–878. London : Publication of the British Museum (Natural History) [301, fig. 14].
—Gibbs, P.E. 1971. The Polychaete fauna of the Solomon Islands. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History) (Zoology) 21(5): 101–211 [147].

Remarks

The various synonymies here, following Glasby (1999), closely approximate the description of the holotype of Lycastis abiuma. However, the variation encompassed is far more than that normally attributed to a species in the Family Nereididae.

General References

Glasby, C.J. 1999. The Namanereidinae (Polychaeta: Nereididae. Part 1, taxonomy and phylogeny. Records of the Australian Museum, Supplement 25: 1-100

Glasby, C.J. 2015. Nereididae (Annelida: Phyllodocida) of Lizard Island, Great Barrier Reef, Australia. Zootaxa 4019(1): 207-239

Magesh, M., Kvist, S. & Glasby, C.J. 2014. Incipient speciation within the Namalycastis abiuma (Annelida: Nereididae) species group from southern India revealed by combined morphological and molecular data. Memoirs of Museum Victoria 71: 169–176

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