Rhodopsis pusilla Bush 1905

Rhodopsis pusilla Bush, 1905

(Fig. 17A)

Rhodopsis pusillus Bush, 1905: 289 –290 [Bermuda; original description].

Josephella marenzelleri not Caullery & Mesnil, 1896 (partim). — Straughan 1967a: 42, fig. 5i [Straughan refers to Dew’s (1959) material correctly identified as J. marenzelleri, but Straughan’s material from Heron Island clearly is Rhodopsis].

Rhodopsis pusilla. —Ben-Eliahu & ten Hove 1989: 383–390, figs 1–11 [Bermuda, Netherlands Antilles, Cyprus, Red Sea (Elat), Reunion, Indonesia (Banda Sea), Australia (Lizard and Heron Islands, Qld); detailed redescription]; Bailey-Brock 1991: 201–204 [Hawaii]; Nishi 1993a: 12, table 1 [reproductive biology, Okinawa, Japan]; 1993b: 17–19, fig. 1D [tube ultrastructure, Okinawa, Japan]; 1993d: 6–9, fig. 2 [hypothesized origin of brooding characteristics, SEM of tube brooding ovicells and operculum]; 1996: 312, 314, fig. 4a–c [attached to dead coral skeletons, Okinawa Japan]; Nishi & Nishihira 1997: 109 [Okinawa, Japan, Sesoko Aquarium]; Nishi & Yamasu 1992b: 93–99, figs 1–6, 2 [brooding and development, SEM of tube ovicells, operculum and larvae; Okinawa, Japan]; ten Hove & San Martin 1995: 19 [Cuba]; Kupriyanova et al. 2001: 11, 41 figs 3D, 4F, 9D [life history]; Vinn et al. 2008: 634–635 [Reunion; tube ultrastructure]; ten Hove & Kupriyanova 2009: 88–89, fig. 2a, fig. 43 [tube with brooding chambers, SEM of chaetae].

Material examined. AM W.202470, back reef of Carter outer reef, 14°40'S, 145°28'E, 10–15 m, coll. P. Hutchings, 20 Mar 1986; AM W.47590, G236, east lagoon near Bird Islet, 9 m, coll. Rouse & Kupriyanova, 29 Oct 2005; SAM E3621, Ser56, stn.G236, east lagoon near Bird Islet, 9 m, coll. G. Rouse & E. Kupriyanova, 29 Oct 2005; ZMA V.Pol. 3622, between First Beach & Osprey Island, reef flat, dead corals & rubble in sand, 3–4 m, coll. H. ten Hove, 17 Jun 1983.

Diagnosis. Tube diameter 0.11–0.17 mm, some tubes may have one or more unpaired, inverted broodchambers (see ten Hove & Kupriyanova 2009, fig. 2A). Operculum pear-shaped, laterally compressed, usually with chitinous plate bearing spines (Fig. 17A). Opercular plate may be deeply infolded and sunk, angled, within the opercular ampulla, then with halves closely appressed.

Remarks. This little known species, characterized by numerous irregular spines in its chitinous opercular plate, was incompletely described by Bush (1905) from a tiny worm collected on corals off Bermuda. The type material was lost. Ben-Eliahu & ten Hove (1989) designated a neotype and re-described the species in detail.

Distribution. Bermuda, Caribbean, Mediterranean, Indo-West Pacific.