Ampharetid Worms are
small, usually marine, Annelid Worms related to the tube-building
Trumpet Worms and the Alvinellid Tube Worms found living around
hydrothermal vents. They are small infaunal Worms, living in burrows
in mud, sand, or other unconsolidated sediments and feeding by
ingesting sediment and digesting organic material within it.
In a paper published in
the journal Zootaxa on 18 September 2015, Tom Alvestad of Uni Research and Natural History Collections at the University Museum ofBergen and Nataliya Budaeva, also of Natural History Collections at
the University Museum of Bergen, and of the P.P. Shirshov Instituteof Oceanology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, describe a new
species of Ampharetid Worm from sediments off Casuarina Beach on
Lizard Island on Australia's Great Barrier Reef, close to the LizardIsland Research Station of the Australian Museum.
The new species is placed
in the genus Neosabellides, and given the specific name lizae
in reference to the area where it was found. The worms are 3-5 mm in
length, and a metalic silver grey in colour. They each have 26
thoracic segments and 14 abdominal segements with paradopodia (limbs)
and one pair of eyes on the head.
Neosabellides lizae,
live specimens. Arrows indicate the position of the eyes, br
indicates branchial tentacles. Alvestad & Budaeva (2015).
See also...
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Two new species of Scolecodont from the Early Devonian of the Ukraine. Scolecodonts are the fossilized remains of the chitinous teeth and jaw
elements of Polychaete Worms. They are described as species since
preservation of entire Worms more-or-less never happens. Scolecodonts
are known in the fossil record from the Cambrian... Follow Sciency Thoughts on Facebook.