Additions to the deep-sea echiuran (Echiura) fauna of the North-East Atlantic

This report contains descriptions of 10 species of deep-sea bonelliids from the North-East Atlantic of which three are indeterminate species. The specimens were collected during the BENGAL cruises that were undertaken between September 1996 and October 1998 in the Porcupine Abyssal Plain. A new monotypic genus Bengalus n. gen. is erected to accommodate B. longiductus n. gen., n. sp. and another new species, Jakobia densopapillata n. sp., is here described. The main distinguishing features of B. longiductus n. gen., n. sp. include the presence of a single, elongated, tubular gonoduct on the right side of the nerve cord with a stalked gonostome located near the distal end of the gonoduct; a thick integument covered with microscopic papillae; tubular anal vesicles and the absence of ventral setae. Jakobia densopapillata n. sp. is distinguished by possessing a thick integument that is densely covered with prominent papillae over the entire surface of the trunk; a truncate proboscis with the lateral margins uniting proximally to form a funnel around the mouth; a single V-shaped gonoduct on the right side of the nerve cord with an anteriorly directed gonostome; tubular anal vesicles and the absence of ventral setae. The paper includes the first records of the occurrence of Zenkevitchiola brevirostris Murina, 1978 and Achaetobonellia maculata Fisher, 1953 from the North Atlantic Ocean.