Dodecaceria sp. 2  

Dodecaceria Örsted, 1843

Dodecaceria sp.2

Voucher specimen. NIMROD: station N1FB.

Diagnosis. Small specimen (<3mm) with 29 chaetigers. Body cylindrical, thin, coloured white in alcohol.

Prostomium bluntly pointed. Peristomium short, complete. Dorsal tentacles dorsally inserted. At least six pairs of branchiae, monomorphic and long.

Anterior chaetigers with simple capillaries, up to 4 in the notopodia and neuropodia, chaetae both long and short. Modified spines present from chaetiger six extending to chaetiger 27, spines simple, without spoon-shaped tips; arranged with two spines and a capillary in both noto- and neuropodia.

Pygidium not particularly expanded, rounded.

Remarks. There are four species in South American waters with six of more pairs of branchiae: D. carolinae Aguilar-Camacho & Salazar-Vallejo, 2011 (13 pairs with spines from chaetiger 14); D. choromytilocola Carradco, 1977 (13 pairs with spines from chaetiger 11); D. fistulicola Ehlers, 1901 (5–7 pairs with spines from chaetiger 9) and D. meridiana Elias & Rivero, 2009 (7-18 pairs with spines from chaetiger 8). The FI species differs from these species in the type of spine, which in this species is a simple spine without any spoon-like expansion of the tip.