(M. Sars, 1872)

Description:
Body cylindrical.
Prostomium small and cylindrical; eyes absent.
Thorax with 15-17 chaetigers. Thoracic notopodia with a simple, cirriform or forked postchaetal lobe and with capillary chaetae. Thoracic neuropodia with 7-17 pointed postchaetal papillae and with several rows of hooded, stout chaetae and a row of capillaries (O. norvegica-parapodium). Posterior thoracic neuropodia with 4-8 thick, brown spines (O. norvegica-chaetae). No subpodial papillae.
Abdominal notopodial lappets are tongue-shaped with 4-5 aciculae and capillary and forked chaetae. Abdominal neuropodial lappets are slender, quite long, bilobed with an acicula and capillary chaetae. Ventral cirri small, triangular. No interramal cirrus.
Gills large, lanceolate, starting at parapodium 5-6.
Pygidium unknown.

Size:
Over 58 mm for over 75 segments.

Colour:
Reddish to yellowish.

Habitat:
On mud; upper sublittoral to 2900 m; stenohaline.

Distribution:
North Sea, Skagerrak, Kattegat. Probably world-wide, except Arctic and Antarctic.

Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Annelida
Class Polychaeta
Order Orbiniida
Family Orbiniidae
Subfamily Orbiniinae
Genus Orbinia
Species Orbinia norvegica

Status in World Register of Marine Species

Accepted name: Orbinia norvegica (Savigny, 1820)

Scientific synonyms and common names

Aricia norvegica Sars, 1872
Phylo norvegica Støp-Bowitz, 1948
Orbinia norvegica Hartmann-Schröder, 1971

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

Kirkegaard, J.B., 1996. Havbørsteorme II. Danmarks Fauna, 86: 1-451.

Uschakov, P.V., 1955. Polychaete worms of the far-eastern seas of the USSR. Keys to the fauna of the USSR, 56: 1-443.

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You can continue searching for Orbinia norvegica on one of these Web sites:

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

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