Prionospio atrovitta (Annelida: Spionidae), a new species from Andaman and Nicobar archipelago, northern Indian Ocean

ABSTRACT

A new species of polychaete, Prionospio atrovitta, is described from the sandy sediments of the Andaman and Nicobar insular margin. The major feature distinguishing P. atrovitta from other species of the genus Prionospio is the presence of well-marked black pigmented band near the anterior dorsal margin of the prostomium and pigmentation on the caruncle in the adults.

KEYWORDS:

• Spionid
• Prionospio
• polychaete
• new species
• Andaman
• Nicobar
• islands

Acknowledgements

This work was carried out under the Marine Living Resources Programme of the Ministry of Earth Sciences, Govt. of India. The support and encouragement provided by the Director, all scientists and research staff of CMLRE are gratefully acknowledged. This is the CMLRE contribution No.110. The authors are thankful to team member Ms. Shruthi Venugopal for her support during fieldwork. The support of vessel management and scientific team onboard FORV ‘Sagar Sampada’ is gratefully acknowledged.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.