Claviramus Fitzhugh, 2002
Claviramus sp. 1
Voucher. INFLEX: station 1MFA.
Diagnosis. Small and slender species; voucher specimen complete, with branchial crown; body 2.5mm long, crown 1mm long, body 0.2mm wide; 8 thoracic and 9 abdominal chaetigers.
Branchial crown with 5 pairs of radioles, basally connected by a very low palmate membrane; radiole with papillae, distally ends in a well-developed flange with long filament; 2 pairs of nonvascularized ventral filaments present. (Presence/absence and structure of the lips not determined at this stage).
Collar most developed ventrally as high lobe, low lobe laterally and dorsally as a low lobes; margin smooth with mid-ventral shallow notch; dorsally forming two lobes that just about meet at midline. Peristomial eyes not observed. Glandular ridge on chaetiger 2 present.
Collar uncini limbate notochaetae. Thoracic notochaetae of two types - long, broadly limbate and shorter paleate, about 3 + 3 per fascicle. Thoracic uncini acicular with long handles, breast as a narrow swelling, positioned very close to notochaetae, 3 per fascicle, each with main fang and rows of small, diminishing-in-size teeth covering half the length of main fang. Abdominal uncini appear Jasmineira-like (with reduced breast), main fang surmounted by several rows of small teeth; 4 per fascicle.
Pygidium triangular lobe, pygidial eyes not observed.
Remarks. The flanges on distal ends of radioles a feature clearly observed in FI specimen, are a hallmark of genus Claviramus (Fitzhugh, 2002). However Fitzhugh (2002) also reported abdominal uncini to be avicular, with enlarged breast. While it was not possible to observe abdominal uncini in clear lateral view in FI specimen, these do appear more of Jasmineira type, with reduced breast. This character requires clarification (only a single, very fragile specimen is currently available for examination). Currently, only 3 species of Claviramus are known (none from the geographical area investigated): C. candelus (Grube, 1863) from Adriatic Sea, C. grubei Fitzhugh, 2002 from Thailand and C. oculatus (Langerhans, 1884) from Madeira. The FI specimen represents a new species showing affinities with C. grubei and C. oculatus (sensu Cochrane 2000) in having filamentous ends to radioles distal to the foliaceous flanges (see discussion in Fitzhugh, 2002). It can be further distinguished from C. oculatus by presence of a glandular ridge on chaetiger 2. Claviramus grubei is marked by presence of this glandular ridge, but differs from FI specimens in possessing more abdominal chaetigers (12 versus 9) and greater number of radiolar pairs in branchial crown (7 versus 5), even though the holotypes are of the exact dimension (i.e. differences cannot be size related). This is a first record of genus Claviramus from South America and Southern Ocean.
