Linopherus beibuwanensissp. n. is described based on six specimens deposited in the Marine Biological Museum of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao, collected from the Beibu Gulf (Tokin Gulf), South China Sea. The new species differs from all other Linopherus species by the shape of prostomium and caruncle. The posterior margin of prostomium is bilobed; the caruncle arises medially and con...

Ophryotrocha shieldsi, sp. nov. is described from Macquarie Harbour, Tasmania, Australia, where it occurs in high densities beneath the sea cages of fish farms. SCUBA and ROV underwater observations revealed closely spaced mounds of aggregations of the new species. It is closely related to O. lobifera Oug, a species reported from fish farms and whale-falls in the North Sea, from which it can be...

We describe "universal" DNA primers for polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification of a 710-bp fragment of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I gene (COI) from 11 invertebrate phyla: Echinodermata, Mollusca, Annelida, Pogonophora, Arthropoda, Nemertinea, Echiura, Sipuncula, Platyhelminthes, Tardigrada, and Coelenterata, as well as the putative phylum Vestimentifera. Preliminary c...

Planktonic larvae of the annelid Pectinaria californiensis construct and inhabit cryptic houses through which they filter seawater to concentrate food. Although filtering houses may be unique to pectinariid larvae, other transparent and ephemeral structures are secreted by the larvae of many marine invertebrates and may be involved in the performance of a variety of critical larval functions.

This study describes a new subgenus of miniature, progenetic Rhamphobrachium species from eastern Australia. Minibrachium, n. subg. is characterised by such paedomorphic features as lack of peristomial cirri and branchiae, possession of only two pairs of modified parapodia with spiny recurved hooks and very early onset of subacicular hooks. Three new species are described, of which at least R. ...

The oldest annelid fossils are polychaetes from the Cambrian Period. They are representatives of the annelid stem group and thus vital in any discussion of how we polarize the evolution of the crown group. Here, we describe a fossil polychaete from the Early Cambrian Sirius Passet fauna, Pygocirrus butyricampum gen. et sp. nov., with structures identified as pygidial cirri, which are recorded f...

Pectinariidae is a family of polychaetes building unique ice-cream cone shaped sandy tubes. Pectinaria torquatasp. n. (Pectinariidae) is described from the coastal waters of the northern South China Sea. This new species can be distinguished from all other 25 recognized species in the genus by a combination of characters: 16 chaetigers; 26-32 cirri in the cephalic veil; 11-12 pairs of cephalic ...

The Middle Cambrian lophotrochozoans Odontogriphus omalus and Wiwaxia corrugata have been interpreted as stem-group members of either the Mollusca, the Annelida, or a group containing Mollusca + Annelida. The case for each classification rests on the organisms' unusual mouthparts, whose two to three tooth-rows resemble both the molluscan radula and the jaws of certain annelid worms. Despite the...