Protula bispiralis Savigny 1822

Protula bispiralis (Savigny, 1822)

(Fig. 15 D)

Serpula (Spiramella) bispiralis Savigny, 1822: 75 –76 [Indian Ocean; original description].

Protula bispiralis. — Ehlers 1907: 31 [New Zealand, Stewart Island; diagnosis]; Fauvel 1922: 498 –499, fig. 2 [W. Australia, Houtman Abrolhos; redescription]; Augener 1925: 68 –69 [St. Matthias Islands]; 1926: 276–277 [Pegasus Bay, Stewart Island]; 1934: 121 [Indonesia, Java; diagnosis]; Benham 1927: 162 –166, pl. 6 figs 191–192 [New Zealand; interesting discussion]; Day 1967: 459 –878 [Southern Africa; diagnosis]; Straughan 1967b: 251 [Australia]; Smith 1985: 92 –97, figs 9e, 12d–e [Australia, Qld, e.g., Lizard Island; redescription]; ten Hove 1994: 107–116 [Seychelles]; Sun et al. 2012a: 24, fig. 3 [Hong Kong].

Protula magnifica Straughan, 1967a: 41 –42 [Heron Island, Qld].

Protula magnifica. — Mather & Bennett 1984: pl. 3 fig. 3 [Australia, Heron Island, Qld; colour photograph]; Colin & Arneson 1995: 152 –153, photo 706 [Micronesia; colour photograph]; Erhardt & Moosleitner 1995: 866 [tropical Indo-Pacific; colour photograph]; Allen & Steene 1994: 130 [Indo-Pacific; colour photograph]; Gosliner et al. 1996: 119 [Indonesia, Sulawesi; colour photograph]; Humann & Deloach 2010: 70 [Indo-West Pacific; colour photograph].

Material examined. AM W.28302, North Point, 14°40'S, 145°28'E, sloping reef with sand & thinly silted corals, coll. R. Smith & C. J. Watson, 1 Mar 1986; AM W.42245, Yonge Reef, back reef bommie, north channel, 14°36'S, 145°37'E, rubble, coll. R. Smith, 6 Nov 1985; AM W.42247, same; ZMA V.Pol. 4762, stn.17, Palfrey Island, south of lighthouse, 14°40'S, 145°28'E, coral heads on sandy bottom, 7 m, coll. H. ten Hove, P. Hutchings & M. Reid, 2 Mar 1986; SAM stn.G238, east lagoon near Bird Islet, 10 m, 31 Oct 2005, photo by G. Rouse in situ, specimen not taken.

Diagnosis. Largest Australian species. Conspicuous radioles as evidenced by numerous pictures in field guides (however often mistaken for feather duster worms (Sabellidae) or for Christmas tree worms (Spirobranchus) and vice versa, and even in a travel guide (Finlay et al. 1998: 80)). Radioles white, reddish or mottled, arranged in two spires of up to 6 whorls, up to 4 cm across and 4.5 cm high (Fig. 15 D).

Remarks. The nominal taxon is badly in need of revision. Though usually reported from the tropical region, it was mentioned from cold-temperate areas as the Cape, South Africa and Stewart Island, New Zealand (e.g., Day 1967: 818–820; Augener 1926: 276–277), a very unlikely distributional pattern. Opinion 1461 in the Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature 44 (3): 219–220 gives as date for Savigny's paper 1822 (as opposed to the generally circulating 1820).

Distribution. Currently unknown.