A new species, Olavius ulrikae (Annelida: Clitellata: Tubificidae), re-assessment of a Western Australian gutless marine worm

WA Museum Records and Supplements | Updated 7 years ago

ABSTRACT – Three Western Australian specimens of the gutless marine worm genus OIavius, previously identified as Olavius propinquus Erseus, 1984, are reconsidered and selected as type material of a new species, O. ulrikae sp. novo. This taxon differs from O. propinquus (s. str.), known only from Fiji in the South Pacific Ocean, by its curved (instead of straight) penial chaetae (in segment XI), and more numerous somatic chaetae in preclitellar segments. Both species belong to an Indo-Pacific complex of closely related forms, the general taxonomy of which is discussed.