“Errant” polychaetes of the Livingston Island shelf (South Shetlands, Antarctica), with the description of a new species

Abstract

The Spanish cruise “Bentart 94” was the first of two devoted to the study of the benthic marine fauna off Livingston and Deception Islands, South Shetland Islands, Antarctica. In this paper, the taxonomic results of the examination of the “errant” families of the polychaetes collected during that cruise are presented. A total of 834 specimens have been examined, belonging to 34 species of 31 genera and 11 families. A new species, Micronereis anaramosae, is described, and Eusyllis kerguelensis McIntosh is referred to the genus Pionosyllis. The specimens were found in 109 samples of muddy sand, mud, stones, rocks, gravel, and mixed sediments, by scuba diving, Van Veen grab, rock trawl and anchor dredge.