Brazilian specimens of Branchiosyllis cf. exilis, B. tamandarensis sp. n., Haplosyllis lattigae sp. n., H. loboi, Opisthosyllis brunnea and O. viridis are described and illustrated herein, from recently collected material; also, the distributions of Haplosyllis amphimedonicola and H. rosenalessoae are expanded to other localities in the states of Paraíba and Pernambuco. Branchiosyllis tamandare...

SYNOPSIS. The pteropod mollusk Clione limacina swims by dorsal-ventral flapping movements of its winglike parapodia. Two basic swim speeds are observed—slow and fast. Serotonin enhances swimming speed by increasing the frequency of wing movements. It does this by modulating intrinsic properties of swim interneurons comprising the swim central pattern generator (CPG). Here we examine some of the...

As a result of their plastic body plan, the relationships of the annelid worms and even the taxonomic makeup of the phylum have long been contentious. Morphological cladistic analyses have typically recovered a monophyletic Polychaeta, with the simple-bodied forms assigned to an early-diverging clade or grade. This is in stark contrast to molecular trees, in which polychaetes are paraphyletic a...

Santa Cruz and El Gambute, two mangrove systems with associated tidal flats, were sampled in Coiba National Park, Coiba Island, Pacific of Panama. At each site, two samplings were done at low, middle and high intertidal levels in February and November of 1997. A new orbiniid species were found: Orbinia oligopapillata n. sp. is characterized by having 15-16 thoracic chaetigers with four or five ...

The marine sandcastle worm bonds mineral particles together into underwater composite dwellings with a proteinaceous glue. The products of at least four distinct secretory cell types are co-secreted from the building organ to form the glue. Prominent hetereogeneous granules contain dense sub-granules of Mg and the (polyphospho)proteins Pc3A and B, as well as at least two polybasic proteins, Pc1...

Among polychaetes, polynoids have the highest number of symbiotic species found living with a wide variety of marine invertebrates, including other polychaetes. Lepidasthenia Malmgren, 1867 and Lepidametria Webster, 1879 were regarded as synonyms but belong to different subfamilies, although both have species associated with thelepodid or terebellid polychaetes. In this contribution Lepidasthen...

Respiratory pumping in Aplysia consists of transient, synchronous pumping actions of the gill, siphon, mantle shelf, and parapodia. This behavior has previously been shown to be driven by a network of coupled interneurons in the abdominal ganglion, the R25 and the L25 cells. We describe here a pair of electrically coupled cells, the R20 cells, which when active can initiate respiratory pumping ...

Animals have evolved diverse appendages adapted for locomotion, feeding and other functions. The genetics underlying appendage formation are best understood in insects and vertebrates. The expression of the Distal-less (Dll) homeoprotein during arthropod limb outgrowth and of Dll orthologs (Dlx) in fish fin and tetrapod limb buds led us to examine whether expression of this regulatory gene may ...

The pteropod mollusk Clione limacina swims by dorsal-ventral flapping movements of its wing-like parapodia. Two basic swim speeds are observed-slow and fast. Serotonin enhances swimming speed by increasing the frequency of wing movements. It does this by modulating intrinsic properties of swim interneurons comprising the swim central pattern generator (CPG). Here we examine some of the ionic cu...

•Among the Lepidonotinae, two species of Lepidonotus are referred to new genera: L. dictyolepis Haswell, from Australia, to Augenerilepidonotus, and L. kumari Rullier, from Malaya, to Olgalepidonotus. As part of an on-going study on the polynoid polychaetes, two species that were described under Lepidonotus Leach, 1816, L. dictyolepis Haswell, 1883, from Australia, and L. kumari Rullier, 1970, ...