From Wikipedia - Reading time: 4 min
| Neopolynoe antarctica | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Annelida |
| Clade: | Pleistoannelida |
| Subclass: | Errantia |
| Order: | Phyllodocida |
| Family: | Polynoidae |
| Genus: | Neopolynoe |
| Species: | N. antarctica
|
| Binomial name | |
| Neopolynoe antarctica (Kinberg, 1858)[1]
| |
Neopolynoe antarctica is a scale worm known from the Magallanes Region of the South Atlantic Ocean and from the Southern Ocean south of New Zealand at depths to about 200 m.[2]
Neopolynoe antarctica has up to 86 segments with 15 pairs of elytra. There is a grayish-brown ovate ring and faint spots along the dorsum with the rings also on the dorsal cirri and antennae. The prostomium has a pair of acute anterior projections on its anterior margin and the lateral antennae are inserted beneath (ventrally) it. The notochaetae are distinctly thicker than the neurochaetae and possess bidentate tips.[3]
Neopolynoe antarctica has a commensal relationship with other tube-building polychaetes, with them hosting N. antarctica inside their tubes. Other host taxa include hydroids of the genus Thuiaria.[4]