New observations on a little-known species of Lumbrineris (Polychaeta) living on various cnidarians, with notes on its recent and fossil scleractinian hosts

Abstract

In a short paper presented to the 12th International Congress of Zoology in Lisbon in 1935, L. Fage described a new species of polychaete, Lumbriconereis flabellicola, living on a coral of the genus Flabellum in 450–600 m off Morocco (Fage, 1936) (PI. VIII, c). The dissolution of the calcareous coral skeleton to form a groove beneath the tube of the worm was well described and figured by Fage, who noted a report of a similar scleractinianpolychaete association from 489 m, off Spanish Sahara by Marenzeller (1904). Subsequently, palaeontologists have shown interest in the association described by Fage, but it has remained largely unknown to biologists, though mentioned in check lists (Hartman, 1951, 1959; Amoureux, 1973b) and in Grasse's Traite de Zoologie (Fauvel, 1959). The generic name Lumbrineris Blainville, 1828, has priority over Lumbriconereis Grube, 1840, and is now in general use.