Long forgotten: Eunice woodwardi Baird, 1869 (Annelida, Eunicidae) revisited, with an insight on internal anatomy

Abstract

Eunice woodwardiBaird, 1869, originally described from the Ría de A Coruña (NW Iberian Peninsula), has been overlooked and never reported from the Atlantic coast of Spain after original description and the subsequent redescription of the holotype. In the present study, we revised comparatively the holotype, newly collected specimens of this species and specimens identified as Eunice vittata (Delle Chiaje, 1829) from western Mediterranean Sea. The validity of E. woodwardi is supported and previous descriptions are complemented after a throughout study of the external morphology by means of light compound microscopy and scanning electron microscopy, and that of the internal anatomy by histological sectioning and micro-computed tomography. The presence of eyes, nuchal organs, dorsal and ventral ciliary organs on parapodial cirri and paired nephridia in most segments is confirmed in E. woodwardi; the digestive tract is clearly regionalized and divided into pharynx, oesophagus, stomach, fore, mid- and hind intestine. The presence of E. woodwardi in the Ría de Ferrol is also reported, and we suggest that previous records of E. vittata in NW Iberian Peninsula should be reviewed. Eunice woodwardi is distinguished by a set of characters such as having non-articulated and non-constricted cephalic appendages, the maxillary formula, the range of branchial distribution, maximum number of branchial filaments, number of limbate and compound falciger chaetae per parapodium, the presence of an apical mucro in the guard of falciger chaetae blades and the number of teeth in pectinate chaetae. Epibiont Ciliophora on branchiae are also reported.