Peanut worms of the phylum Sipuncula from the Nha Trang Bay (South China Sea) with a key to species
Author
Adrianov, Andrey V.
Author
Maiorova, Anastassya S.
text
Zootaxa
2012
3166
41
58
journal article
45619
10.5281/zenodo.279772
32627594-388c-40b3-8481-0b241b850847
1175-5326
279772
Aspidosiphon
(
Paraspidosiphon
)
laevis
de Quatrefages, 1865
(
Fig. 5
K–L)
Material.
Nha Trang Bay: Diamond Bay, intertidal,
10 specimens
. Trunk
15–20 mm
long,
3–4 mm
wide, pale yellow, semitransparent, with minute papillae; introvert about 1.5 X trunk length, whitish pink in living specimens. Anal shield yellow-brown, with 10–12 longitudinal grooves. Caudal shield yellow-brown, with 17–18 radial grooves. Unidentate compressed hooks arranged in rings. Longitudinal musculature splits into 25–30 bands; retractor muscles originate at 10–15% of trunk length from the caudal shield, fused for most of their length. Gut with about 30 loops; spindle muscle attached posteriorly, may be bifurcated at the anterior end. Nephridia are about 40% of trunk length, about 1/3 attached to the body wall.
Discussion.
The only other representative of the subgenus
Aspidosiphon (Paraspidosiphon)
with grooved anal shield is
A. coyi
, which differs from
A. laevis
by the presence of distal hooks with secondary tooth and the position of retractor muscles that originate anterior to the caudal shield at the posterior end.
Aspidosiphon laevis
is a tropical species that is widespread in the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans. In the West Pacific it is known from
Australia
to
Japan
, and inhabits coral rocks in shallow water.