Three new species of Aricidea (Acmira) (Annelida: Paraonidae) from the Continental Shelf of Eastern Brazil, Southwestern Atlantic

Abstract

Three new species of the Paraonidae genus Aricidea (Acmira) are described from the Southwestern Atlantic, East Brazilian Continental Shelf (from depths between 11 and 44 m) in the Espírito Santo Basin. The species Aricidea (Acmira) filamentosa sp. nov., Aricidea (Acmira) pearti sp. nov. and Aricidea (Acmira) bbkingi sp. nov. are clearly different from all known species in the genus through its chaetal morphology, number of branchiate chaetigers and shape of antenna. These three species were found in only a few sampling stations, geographically and bathymetrically restricted within a much wider sampled area.

Three new species of Levinsenia Mesnil, 1897 (Annelida: Paraonidae) from shallow and deep waters of Southwestern Atlantic Ocean

“…The family Paraonidae currently includes about 155 described species, with a worldwide distribution [8,9]. Due to the utilization of finer (0.5 mm mesh) sieves and the numerous projects focused on diversity in deep-sea environments [10], several new species have been described recently [11][12][13].…”

“…Regarding the Brazilian coast, previous studies on paraonids registered the presence of six genera and 38 species, most of them from shallow waters [28]. Few systematic studies have been conducted on Brazilian paraonids [11,[29][30][31], so most (62%) of the previous records for the family in Brazil come from gray literature and papers with an ecological approach, in which specimens descriptions and illustrations are not given [28]. For this reason, most of these records are questionable.…”