On the occurrence of Antillesoma antillarum (Grube, 1858) (Sipuncula, Antillesomatidae) on the south-central part of the Colombian Caribbean coast

Jorge A Quirós-Rodríguez,Gilmar Santafé-Patiño,Carlos Nisperuza-Pérez

doi:10.15560/17.5.1199

Abstract

We document here the first confirmed report of the sipunculan worm Antillesoma antillarum (Grube, 1858) based on freshly collected, taxonomically verified specimens from the south-central Colombian Caribbean coast. This species was encountered on massive coralline rocks, coral rubble, and coral boulder at San Antero. We briefly describe and illustrate this species and provide notes on its distribution, ecology, and habitat.

Highlights

The sipunculans, commonly known as the peanut worms or star worms (Schulze et al 2019), are a small group of bilaterally symmetrical, coelomate and non-segmented marine worm (Murina 1984; Cutler 1994) considered close to the annelid group (Staton 2003; Struck et al 2007; Dordel et al 2010)
Antillesoma antillarum is a common, worldwide species in hard substrata (Hutching 1986; Peyrot-Clausade et al 1992; Glynn 1997). Despite it being a dominant sipunculan species inhabiting of both live and dead portions of coral skeletons, there are just a few records of the species from around the Colombian Caribbean (Gómez et al 2013; Quiroz-Ruiz and Londoño-Mesa 2015). We found it in hard substrata, occurring in massive coralline rocks, crevices, and coral rubble (Cutler 1994; Glynn 1997; Gómez et al 2013)
Other authors have reviewed the ecological importance of this species in coral reef environments because of this species’ capacity to degrade calcium carbonate; it is an important component in bioerosion (Hutchings 1986; Peyrot-Clausade and Brunel 1990; Moreno-Forero et al 1998; Gómez et al 2013)

Summary

Introduction

The sipunculans, commonly known as the peanut worms or star worms (Schulze et al 2019), are a small group of bilaterally symmetrical, coelomate and non-segmented marine worm (Murina 1984; Cutler 1994) considered close to the annelid group (Staton 2003; Struck et al 2007; Dordel et al 2010). The body is formed in two main parts: a larger trunk without segmentation and a retractable introvert, with a tentacular arrangement at the most distal part, either arranged in a circle around the mouth or in a horseshoe shape around the chemosensory nuchal organ. This tentacular crown is more or less developed depending on the taxonomic group (Spongberg 2006; Schulze and Kawauchi 2021). The introvert is often adorned with shields, papillae, and proteinaceous hooks. Antillesoma antillarum (Grube, 1858) have some purple pigment on their tentacles or at the tentacle base

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