"Sphaerodoropsis oculata new species
(Fig. 3.18-20)
Sphaerodoridium minutum Hartman, 1967, p. 86, partim (not Webster and Benedict, 1887).
DESCRIPTION : The type is a complete specimen, 2-1 mm long and 1 mm wide,
with 27 setigers and setae. It is white and lacks colour patterns. The body is
filled with a number of large eggs, but the anterior and posterior ends are
distinctly slimmer than the distended middle part of the specimen.
The anterior end (fig. 3.19) is bluntly rounded. Two pairs of lateral antennae
are present; each of the inferior ones is long and digitate and has one or two
smaller papillae along the outer margin. Each of the superior antennae is
basally somewhat swollen with a long slender tip and has two short papillae
along the median edge. The median antenna is long and basally inflated
The peristomial cirri are digitate. The margin between the peristomial cirrri
and the bases of the lateral antennae is densely covered with long, slender
papillae, but the rest of the anterior end is smooth. A single pair of very large,
circular eyes is posterior to the bases of the lateral antennae.
All parapodia (fig. 3.20) are similar; each has a slender, bluntly conical
acicular lobe and a long erect presetal lobe. Postsetal lobes are absent. The
ventral cirrus is slender and projects beyond the tip of the acicular lobe. Each
face of the parapodium has a single, round papilla near the middle of the
parapodium. A pair of similar papillae is present on the superior and inferior
edges near the base of the parapodium.
Ten or eleven rows of macrotubercles are present; these are arranged in transverse rows so that each segment has ten or eleven tubercles in a zig-zag
pattern. Papillae cover the ventrum and are found between the rows of
macrotubercles; each is short and blunt.
All setae are composite falcigers (fig. 3.18) each has a slender, slightly
inflated shaft and a short, falcate appendage.
S. oculata resembles S. pycnos, new species, in that both have approximately
eleven rows of macrotubercles. The presetal lobes are digitate in S. oculata
and foliose in S. pycnos. A pair of very prominent eyes are present in
S. oculata and absent in S. pycnos.
The holotype (AHF POLY 0956) and five paratypes (AHF POLY 0957)
come from the same station, Elt. 272, off the Antarctic Peninsula in 412 m
depth. Complete data can be found in the station list."
(Fauchald, 1974a)
