HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in ISI Web of Science Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via ISI Web of Science (2) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Pleijel, F. Articles by Rouse, G. W. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Pleijel, F. Articles by Rouse, G. W. Related Collections Annelids Reproduction Systematics

Reproductive Biology of a New Hesionid Polychaete From the Great Barrier Reef

¹ Department of Marine Ecology, Tjärnö Marine Biological Laboratory, Göteborg University, SE-452 96 Strömstad, Sweden, and Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, Département Systématique et Evolution, CNRS UMR 7138, "Systématique, Adaptation, Evolution", 43, rue Cuvier, 75231 Paris Cedex 05, France
² South Australian Museum, Nth Terrace, Adelaide, SA 5000, Australia, and School of Environmental & Earth Sciences, University of Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed, at Tjärnö Marine Biological Laboratory, SE-452 96 Strömstad, Sweden. E-mail: fredrik.pleijel{at}tmbl.gu.se

We describe Lizardia hirschi, a new hesionid genus and species, from shallow water on the Great Barrier Reef. It is characterized by small size (maximally around 2 mm long) and by males with paired penes on the last segment or the pygidium. The sperm are elongated, with a conical acrosome; extended, cylindrical nucleus; and three mitochondria. The females have three to four pairs of eggs in segments 10–13, up to 150 µm in diameter. The female reproductive system consists of spermathecae, situated in the notopodia of segments 10–12, and oviducts opening ventrally on segment 11. Fertilization may be internal. The female (but not the male) reproductive system appears to be homologous to that in another small hesionid, capricornia. The phylogenetic position of L. hirschi within Hesionidae is currently uncertain due to the retention of many apparently larval features in the adults.