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A new branchiate hesionid polychaete (Annelida, Hesionidae) from New Caledonia

Christine RUTA & Fredrik PLEIJEL

en Zoosystema 28 (3) - Pages 655-667

Published on 29 September 2006

We describe Hesiobranchia lifouensis n. gen., n. sp. from coral reefs at Lifou, Loyalty Islands, New Caledonia in the south-west Pacific. It is distinguished from all other hesionids by the presence of two elongated lateral projections on the proboscis, by having both noto- and neurochaetae starting on segment 5, by the presence of parapodial branchiae, and by a unique pigmentation pattern. A morphology-based parsimony analysis of the phylogeny of hesionids indicates that H. lifouensis n. gen., n. sp. belongs within Gyptini and is the sister group of Gyptis Marion & Bobretzky in Marion, 1874.


Keywords:

Annelida, Polychaeta, Hesionidae, Hesiobranchia n. gen., Hesiobranchia lifouensis n. sp., new genus, new species.

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