Jasmineira Langerhans, 1880
Jasmineira sp. 6
Voucher specimens. Sea Lion: station 43MFC.
Diagnosis. Extremely small sized species; voucher with body complete (branchial crown missing); 2.2mm long (body) and 0.3mm wide; 8 thoracic and 10 abdominal chaetigers.
Branchial crown missing; with a typical Jasmineira-abscission zone.
Collar very well-developed, much higher ventrally than dorsally; with smooth anterior margin; ventrally with an obvious mid-ventral notch; dorsally median lobes not overlapping, separated by a small gap.
Narrow glandular ridge around chaetiger 2.
Collar chaetae limbate (hooded) arranged in oblique rows. Thoracic chaetigers with long, narrowly-limbate superior chaetae, slightly shorter mucronate inferior chaetae with very long slender mucron and very short broadly hooded chaetae; 3+4+3 arrangement per fascicle observed in anterior chaetigers. Thoracic neuropodial uncini acicular, with several rows of minute, similar-sized teeth covering half the length of main fang; reducing in number from chaetiger 2 with 4 uncini to 1 uncinus in chaetiger 8 (the last thoracic chaetiger). Companion chaetae absent.
Abdominal chaetigers with few neurochaetae (4 in anterior abdomen, reduced to 3 in posterior, with 2 chaetae in last abdominal unciniger); elongate, narrowly-limbate (hooded), some longer, some shorter. Abdominal uncini avicular (S-shaped), elongated, with reduced breast; up to 4 arranged in a single row in chaetiger 9 (first abdominal chaetiger), diminishing number posteriorly to 2 in the last abdominal chaetiger; with several rows of similar-sized teeth, occupying half the length of main fang.
Posteriomost chaetigers narrowing gradually into fleshy, triangular pygidial lobe without any cirri; pygidial eyespots not observed. Tube not observed.
Methyl Green pattern: refer to image.
Remarks. Several species in genus Jasmineira were collected from Falkland Islands in this study and these are summarised in the table on the Jasmineira page. Jasmineira sp. 6 can be easily distinguished from the other species by its very small size and low number of abdominal chaetigers (n=10). However, another very similar species, with currently unresolved identification possibly belonging to genus Jasmineira or Claviramus was also collected from Falkland Is. This species Jasmineira? (Claviramus?) sp. 5 is of similar size and also possesses 10 abdominal chaetigers, but it lacks the obvious Jasmineira- abscission zone of branchial crown, its pygidium is broader and shorter, bearing a short, slender terminal cirrus. The two species also differ markedly in their Methyl Green staining pattern particularly when observed within minutes to hours of staining (refer to comparative image), the pattern somewhat converged after several days, but are not identical (refer to comparative image). Of the known species of Jasmineira from the area, J. macrophthalma Ehlers, 1913 also possess only 10-12 abdominal segments (no drawings were provided with the original description). However Ehlers stated that description is based on two slightly different forms (from two different locations - Kerguelen Islands and Wilhelm II Coast) and, therefore, it needs to be clarified if these were in fact different species. Both of his specimens had eyes (forming brown pigmented, crescent-shaped patch) according to Ehlers, which were not observed in Falkland Is. specimens.
