Lepidasthenia is a genus of marine Polychaete worms belonging to the family Polynoidae (scale worms). Species of Lepidasthenia are found worldwide to depths of about 1200 m but are more common in shallower water.[1]

Lepidasthenia
Lepidasthenia loboi holotype
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Annelida
Clade: Pleistoannelida
Subclass: Errantia
Order: Phyllodocida
Family: Polynoidae
Genus: Lepidasthenia
Malmgren, 1867
Type species
Polynoe elegans
Grube, 1840

Description

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Lepidasthenia species are long-bodied scale worms with up to 150 segments and 50 to 100 or more pairs of elytra. The elytra are smooth and lack marginal papillae. Elytra are small, do not overlap, and leave the dorsal region of the body mostly uncovered; on the posterior region there is one pair of elytra every three segments. The lateral antennae are inserted terminally on the distal ends of the bilobed prostomium. The lateral and median antennae are smooth. The first segment is without chaetae. Notopodia are reduced and notochaetae are few or more often absent. The neuropodia are deeply divided vertically into anterior and posterior lobes. The neurochaetae may be bidentate or unidentate and are few. [2][3][4]

Biology

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Lepidasthenia is one of many genera in the family that contain bioluminescent species.[5]

Species

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There are 42 valid species of Lepidasthenia as of September 2020:

References

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  1. ^ Read, Geoffrey B.; Fauchald, Kristian (2020). "The World Polychaeta Database".
  2. ^ Hanley JR, Burke M (1991) Polychaeta Polynoidae: Scaleworms of the Chesterfield Island and Fairway Reefs, Coral Sea. In: A. Crosnier (ed.), Résultats des Campagnes MUSORSTOM, Volume 8. Mémoires du Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle. Série A, Zoologie 151: 9–82.
  3. ^ Wehe T (2006) Revision of the scale worms (Polychaeta: Aphroditoidea) occurring in the seas surrounding the Arabian Peninsula. Part I: Polynoidae. Fauna of Arabia 23: 23–197
  4. ^ Salazar-Vallejo SI, González NE, Salazar-Silva P (2015) Lepidasthenia loboi sp. n. from Puerto Madryn, Argentina (Polychaeta, Polynoidae). ZooKeys: 21–37. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.546.6175
  5. ^ Herring, Peter J. (1987). "Systematic distribution of bioluminescence in living organisms". Journal of Bioluminescence and Chemiluminescence. 1 (3): 147–163. doi:10.1002/bio.1170010303. PMID 3503524.