Genus Themiste Gray, 1828

Museums

Regional Maps

• Themiste Gray, J.E. 1828. Spicilegia Zoologica, or original figures and short systematic descriptions of new and unfigured animals. London : Treuttel, Würtz & Co.

  Type species:

   Themiste (Themiste) hennahi Gray, 1828 by original designation.

 

Taxonomic Decision for Subgeneric Arrangement

• Cutler, E.B. 1994. The Sipuncula, their Systematics, Biology, and Evolution. New York : Cornell University Press 480 pp.

 

Introduction

Themiste was for many years known as Dendrostomum (describing the branching or tree-like nature, dendritic, of the tentacles). The genus was raised to family status (Themistidae) by Gibbs & Cutler (1987), but has since been restored to the Golfingiidae by Schulze et al. (2019).


Five species of Themiste have been recorded from Australia (Edmonds 1980). All were collected from the littoral region of the shore and all belong to a subgenus Lagenopsis in which the contractile villi are numerous and short. Themistids in Australia live in at least two types of habitat. Themiste lageniformis makes burrows in coral rock. Themiste cymodoceae, however, is collected from among the tangled roots of the marine angiosperms, Amphibolis species and sometimes of Zostera species. It is a detritus feeder and uses its tentacles to direct particles (not always fine ones) to its mouth. Themiste cymodoceae lives in a cavity in plant roots; the cavity is gradually excavated by the worm. The sides of the cavity are well compacted and it appears that the animal leads an almost sedentary existence. Themiste cymodoceae is hardy and 'tough' and, as such, makes a good experimental animal.

 

Distribution

States

New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Western Australia

IBRA and IMCRA regions

drainage basins and coastal and oceanic zones

IMCRA

Timor Transition (1), Northern Shelf Province (25), Northwest Shelf Transition (26), Northwest Shelf Province (27), Central Western Shelf Province (29), Southwest Shelf Transition (30), Southwest Shelf Province (31), Spencer Gulf Shelf Province (33), Western Bass Strait Shelf Transition (34), Bass Strait Shelf Province (35), Tasmanian Shelf Province (36), Southeast Shelf Transition (37), Central Eastern Shelf Province (38), Central Eastern Shelf Transition (39), Northeast Shelf Province (40), Northeast Shelf Transition (41)

Original AFD Distribution Data

Afrotropical Region

• Madagascar
• South Africa

Australian Region

• Australia
  • 200 m bathymetric: Bass Strait, Central E coast, Lower E coast, Lower W coast, N coast, NE coast, NW coast, S Gulfs coast, Tas. Coast
• Hawaii
• New Zealand
  • Chatham Is.

Nearctic Region

• United States of America
  • Florida

Neotropical Region

• Argentina
• Cuba

Oriental Region

• China (People's Republic)
• India
• Philippines

Palaearctic Region

• Japan

General References

Cutler, E.B. 1994. The Sipuncula, their Systematics, Biology, and Evolution. New York : Cornell University Press 480 pp. [140]

Edmonds, S.J. 1980. A review of the systematics of Australian sipunculans (Sipuncula). Records of the South Australian Museum (Adelaide) 18: 1-74

Gibbs, P.E. & Cutler, E.B. 1987. A classification of the phylum Sipuncula. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History) 52: 43-58

Schulze, A., Boyle, M.J. & Kawauchi, G.Y. 2019. Amphinomida/Sipuncula. Chapter 6 In: Handbook of Zoology [Annelida. Basal groups and Pleistoannelida, Sedentaria 1], edited by G. Purschke, M. Böggemann and W. Westheide. De Gruyter pp. 177–216.

 

History of changes

Published	As part of group	Action Date	Action Type	Compiler(s)
17-Oct-2023	ANNELIDA	18-Sep-2023	MODIFIED
21-Jul-2023		21-Jul-2023	MOVED
		12-Feb-2010	(import)