(Malmgren, 1865)

Description:
Body long, strong and cylindrical.
Prostomium oval, anterior broadly rounded with an encircling rim, higher anteriorly; laterally and posteriorly weakly incised. Nuchal slits slightly diverging anteriorly, extending posteriorly to the beginning of the lateral incisions. Without ocelli.
19 chaetigers. First chaetigers about as long as the fused prostomium-peristomium; mid-body chaetigers longer and posterior segments shorter than broad. Anterior 8 chaetigers with a glandular band, anterior to the parapodia. Other chaetigers with glandular areas around the parapodia and along the ventral mid-line.
Notopodial capillaries smooth with narrow or broad wings. Anterior 3 segments with 2-7 reduced hooks on the neuropodia. Other segments with normal hooks. Posterior 4 or 5 segments without chaetae (P. praetermissa-detail).
Pygidium funnel-shaped and short, with 20-40 short filamentous and 1 longer ventral cirrus.

Size:
Up to 100 mm for 19 chaetigers.

Tube:
Straight or slightly bent. Covered with mud, fine sand and foraminiferans. Diameter outside 2.6 mm, inside 1.8 mm.

Colour:
Anterior 8-9 chaetigers brownish-red spotted, 4-8 chaetigers with light band in front of parapodia.

Habitat:
From 10 m down to more than 4900 m deep, tubes in all types of soft bottoms, or fixed to shells etc.

Distribution:
Arctic, North Pacific, North Atlantic up to Mediterranean, Adriatic and Sea of Marmara to English Channel, North Sea, Skagerrak, Kattegat, the Belts, Öresund to Bay of Kiel.

Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Annelida
Class Polychaeta
Order Capitellida
Family Maldanidae
Subfamily Euclymeninae
Genus Praxillella
Species Praxillella praetermissa

Status in World Register of Marine Species

Accepted name: Praxillella praetermissa (Malmgren, 1865)

Scientific synonyms and common names

Praxilla praetermissa Malmgren, 1865
Clymene intermedia Oersted, 1843
Praxilla gracilis Tauber, 1879
Praxillella praetermissa Arwidsson, 1906
Clymene praetermissa Fauvel, 1927
Euclymene praetermissa Hartmann-Schröder, 1971

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

Imajima, M. & Y. Shiraki, 1982. Maldanidae (Annelida: Polychaeta) from Japan (part 2). Bull. natn. Sci. Mus. Tokyo (Zool.), 8: 47-88.

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

You can continue searching for Praxillella praetermissa on one of these Web sites:

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

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