Abstract
The polychaete fauna from the mangroves of the Amazon Coast in Maranhão state, Brazil, is reported in this study. Fourteen species are listed, namely Alitta succinea (Leuckart, 1847); Arabella (Arabella) iricolor Montagu, 1804; Capitella capitata (Fabricius, 1780) complex; Exogone (Exogone) breviantennata Hartmann-Schröder, 1959; Heteromastus filiformis (Claparède, 1864); Isolda pulchella Müller, 1858; Mediomastus californiensis Hartman, 1944; Namalycastis fauveli Nageswara Rao, 1981; Namalycastis geayi (Gravier, 1901); Namalycastis senegalensis (Saint-Joseph, 1901); Nephtys simoni Perkins, 1980; Paraonis amazonica sp. n.; Sigambra bassi (Hartman, 1945); and Sigambra grubii Müller, 1858. Among them, Namalycastis fauveli and Namalycastis geayi are recorded for the first time in Brazil. Paraonis amazonica sp. n. is a new species for science, characterized by a rounded prostomium, 4–8 pairs of foliaceous branchiae, absent eyes, and two types of modified neurochaetae, acicular and hook-shaped.
Highlights
There are some exceptions, such as P. fulgens, recorded in the intertidal zone from Caribbean Sea (Helguera et al 2011), P. strelzovi in mangroves from Australia (Hartmann-Schröder 1980), and P. pygoenigmatica recorded in estuarine areas from Brazil (Barros et al 2001)
Paraonis amazonica sp. n. is the first record of a Paraonis species found in muddy bottoms in mangrove vegetated areas
14 species belonging to eight families and eleven genera were identified in São Marcos Bay, Maranhão, Brazilian Amazon Coast
Summary
The two largest rivers that drain South America, the Amazon and the Orinoco, are respectively, the first and third largest rivers in the world in terms of water volume (Degens et al 1991). The Orinoco and Amazon Rivers are responsible for the discharge of an enormous amount of freshwater and sediment into the ocean, representing nearly 20 % of the total global annual freshwater (Hu et al 2004; Miloslavich et al 2011) These rivers have been recognized as zoogeographic barriers to the dispersal of marine fauna between the Caribbean and southwestern Atlantic (Gilbert 1972; Floeter and Gasparini 2000). They influence the Brazilian Northern Coast, known as the Brazilian Amazon Coast, which extends from the north of the Amapá State to the Gulf of Maranhão and represents 35 % of the entire Brazilian Coast (Silveira 1964; Sousa et al 2008). This is the first taxonomic study with a focus on the polychaete fauna from Maranhão and includes new records and the description of a new species
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