The taxonomy of some little-known Sipuncula from the north-east Atlantic region including new records

Abstract

INTRODUCTIONEarly investigations of the deep-sea fauna of the north-east Atlantic region resulted in many new Sipuncula species being described, notably by such workers as Koren & Danielssen (1877), Théel (1905), Sluiter (1900, 1912) and Southern (1913). Many of these species were erected from single, or few, specimens and some are still known only from the original records.This paper examines the status of certain species, mostly the seemingly-rare golfingiids described by Sluiter and Southern (see Table 1), the types of which were deposited in the collections of the Irish National Museum, Dublin (INMD) and the Musée Océanographique, Monaco-Ville (MOMV), and presents some new observations and records. The names of taxa follow the classification of Cutler & Gibbs (1985); Nephasoma Pergament and Apionsoma Sluiter, formerly considered as subgenera of Golfingia Lankester, are now elevated to generic rank.