Spionid polychaetes (Annelida: Spionidae) boring into shells of molluscs of commercial interest in northern Patagonia, Argentina

Abstract

Six native bivalves of commercial interest, Aequipecten tehuelchus, Mytilus sp., Aulacomya atra, Ostrea puelchana, Protothaca antiqua and Pododesmus rudis, were examined on account of shell-boring spionid polychaetes in northern Patagonia, Argentina. Adults of Polydora rickettsi were found boring into shells of all molluscs but Mytilus sp., whereas Dipolydora cf. giardi was found only in shells of A. atra. The intensity of infestation of molluscs was low, and the prevalence of infestation by P. rickettsi varied from 20 to 54%, depending on the host species. Both boring spionids are reported for the first time from the Patagonian coast, and also as shell-borers of the examined molluscs.

Keywords:

• Polydora
• Dipolydora
• shell-borer
• bivalve

Acknowledgements

We wish to express our sincere gratitude to Norberto De Garín, Ricardo Vera, Miguel A. Diaz, Néstor Ortiz, José Ascorti, Soledad Zabala, José Fernandez Alfaya and Fabián Quiroga for their assistance in the field. María Emilia Diez is a pre-doctoral fellow of CONICET and the Ministry of Education, Chubut Province. Three anonymous reviewers contributed substantially to improve the original MS. Financial support was provided by the Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científica y Tecnológica (Projects PICT 1374 and PICT 1674), and by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (Project 09-04-01235).