Saint-Joseph, 1887

Description:
Prostomium rounded with four eyes, in a trapezoid arrangement. Palps hardly visible dorsally. Median antenna a little longer than lateral ones. Lateral antennae often 4x as long as prostomium.
Dorsal tentacular cirri about as long as lateral antennae, ventral at most half that size. Dorsal cirri of first segment the longest, a little longer than median antenna. Dorsal cirri of second segment often longer than others. All other dorsal cirri short, even shorter than half the length of segment width. Blades of compound chaetae bidentate, secondary tooth larger than terminal tooth (A. edwardsi-detail). Additionally a needle-shaped chaeta with serrated shaft. Pharynx with a twist. Trepan with 21-38 teeth.

Size:
Body up to 7 mm long for 49 segments.

Colour:
Anterior body reddish-brown or dorsolaterally with an orange-red longitudinal line. Tips of anterior appendages red.

Habitat:
Between seaweeds, hydroids and Laminaria; also in mucus-tubes on seaweeds. Sometimes in muddy bottoms. From eulittoral down to 40 m deep.

Distribution:
Eastern North Atlantic, Mediterranean, English Channel, southern North Sea and Skagerrak, Kattegat up to Öresund.

Remark:
Hamond (1969) thought it "probable that in Norfolk waters both the intertidal and the offshore Autolytus of the brachycephalus-prolifer-edwardsi complex form a single, very variable but reproductively homogenous, population".

Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Annelida
Class Polychaeta
Order Phyllodocida
Superfamily Nereidoidea
Family Syllidae
Subfamily Autolytinae
Genus Autolytus
Species Autolytus edwarsi

Status in World Register of Marine Species

Synonym of Myrianida edwardsi (Saint Joseph, 1887)

Scientific synonyms and common names

Autolytus edwarsi Saint-Joseph, 1887
Autolytus edwardsi Auctt. (misspelling)
Autolytus prolifer (non Müller) Thorson, 1946

Gidholm, L., 1967. A revision of Autolytinae (Syllidae: Polychaeta) with special reference to Scandinavian species, and with notes on external and internal morphology, reproduction and ecology. Arkiv Zool. Stockholm, (2)19: 157-213.

Hamond, R., 1969. Intergradation in Norfolk waters between some species of Autolytus. Cah. Biol. mar., 10: 289-300.

Hartmann-Schröder, G., 1996. Annelida, Borstenwürmer, Polychaeta. Tierwelt Deutschlands, 58: 1-648.

Kirkegaard, J.B., 1992. Havbørsteorme I. Danmarks Fauna, 83: 1-416.

You can continue searching for Autolytus edwarsi on one of these Web sites:

Fauna Europaea (animals) | IOPI (plants) | NCBI (genetic)

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