Cheilonereis undetermined

Cheilonereis sp. Fig. 4 Material examined. MZB.Pol.00294 (2 specimens), collected by Joko Pamungkas on 24 November 2017 from Warmar Island: Wangel Village, Aru Islands District, Aru Islands Regency, Maluku Province (5°45'05.1"S, 134°11'43.2"E). Diagnosis. Body color in alcohol cream or whitish, lacking pigmentation. Prostomium with entire anterior margin. Four circular black eyes present, arranged rather obliquely with distance between anterior eyes slightly wider than that of posterior ones. Antennae subulate. Palps biarticulated with massive subconical palpophores and globular palpostyles. Peristomium tapering posteriorly. Four pairs of smooth peristomial cirri with distinct cirrophores present; longest cirri reaching chaetiger 5. Ventral peristomial flap present. Conical paragnaths present on both rings. Prechaetal notopodial lobe restricted to anterior chaetigers. Dorsal notopodial ligule markedly broader and elongate on posterior chaetigers. Distribution and habitat. The species was obtained from Maluku, Indonesia, inhabiting intertidal rocky shore. Remarks. Our specimens fit the minimal generic diagnosis of Wilson et al. (2023), i. e., ‘ ventral peristomial flap present; Areas VII – VIII conical paragnaths differentiated, with a separate band of minute paragnaths also present; dorsal notopodial ligule markedly broader on posterior chaetigers. ’ To date, there are only three Cheilonereis species in the world, i. e., Cheilonereis cyclurus (Harrington, 1897) from Puget Sound (USA), Cheilonereis peristomialis Benham, 1916 from Great Australian Bight (Australia), and Cheilonereis shishidoi (Izuka, 1912) from Japan. All of these species were collected from temperate regions. The Cheilonereis sp. in the present study is the first material obtained from the tropical region and may represent a new species. In such a case, the species will be described in a separate taxonomic work, preferably with genetic data.