Abstract
A revision of the taxonomic status of Terebellides antarcticus Hessle, Citation1917, Terebellides longicaudatus Hessle, Citation1917 and Terebellides minutus Hessle, Citation1917 was undertaken through the examination of the type material. Thus, T. longicaudatus is regarded as a valid species and redescribed and T. antarcticus and T. minutus are considered as junior synonyms of Terebellides kerguelensis McIntosh, 1818. Terebellides longicaudatus is characterized by the presence of large lateral lobes on chaetigers 1 to 5, 1 and 2 being the largest, first thoracic acicular neurochaetae gently bent, wide thoracic neuropodia fascicles with numerous uncini and the first notopodium greatly reduced. Comments on several body characters related to branchial and chaetal structure are also provided.
Acknowledgements
The authors wish to thank Elin Sigvaldadottir and Karin Sindemark (SMNH), Emma Sherlock (BMNH) and William Moser (USNM) for the loan of Hessle's, McIntosh's and Monro's, and Hartman's specimens, respectively. Many thanks are also given to R. Barreiro (RIAIDT, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Spain) and A. Castro (SAIN, Universidade da Coruña) who assisted with the preparation of specimens and use of the SEM, D. Romero (Universidade da Coruña) for the line drawings and J. García‐Carracedo for the translation of Hessle's descriptions. Special thanks to one anonymous referee whose comments greatly contributed to improving this paper. This work was partially supported by MCYT Antarctic Program CGL2004‐01856.