Trophoniella cucullata, a new flabelligerid species from Mediterranean Posidonia oceanica meadows (Annelida, Flabelligeridae)

Abstract

A new species belonging to the genus Trophoniella Hartman, 1959 (Polychaeta: Flabelligeridae) was described from the coastal area of Civitavecchia (Northern Tyrrhenian Sea). The species was collected in gravelly coarse sands from Posidonia oceanica beds at around 7 m depth. Trophoniella cucullata sp. nov. clearly differs from all other congeners species primarily by the distribution of the sediment grains on the body and by the starting point of the anchylosed neurohooks. Diagnostic morphological traits for the identification of the species are discussed. The description of Trophoniella cucullata sp. nov. in the same P. oceanica biocenosis where other species have been recently reported in the Northern Tyrrhenian Sea, testifies to the role of this marine phanerogam as a biodiversity hotspot.