Polydora armata Langerhans, 1880: 93 –94, fig. 4 D– 5 A.— Blake & Kudenov, 1978: 247.— Hartman, 1951: 83.— Lewis, 1998: 652.
Dipolydora armata: Radashevsky & Nogueira, 2003: 377 –380.
Type locality. Madeira
Type material. Syntypes (ZMH V– 1547), paratypes (NHMW 7336).
Records. USA: off southwestern Florida, shell of Carrier-Shell, Tugurium (Trochotugurium) longleyi (Bartsch, 1931), 214 m (Hartman 1951). Mexico: Xcalac, Quintana Roo; Yucatan (18 º 16´N, 87 º 49.6´W), coral reef, 15 m, from shell of deltoid rocksnail, Thais detoidea (Lamarck, 1822), occupied by hermit crab, Clibanarius cf. cubensis (de Saussure, 1858) (Radashevsky & Nogueira 2003). Belize: Carrie Bow Cay (16 º 48´N, 88 º05´W), 0.4—1.2 m, coral rubble, Dictyota, Thalassia in part live Porites, sand, reef crest rubble, encrusting red algae of Lithothamnion type, 2 m, from coralline algae encrusting gastropod shell occupied by hermit crab (Radashevsky & Nogueira 2003).
Remarks. Dipolydora armata was described by Langerhans (1880) from Madeira, his original description and figures show bidentate spines on segment 5, without bristles, six pairs of branchiae, and the posterior 5–6 segments with spines. However, the description of the arrangement of posterior spines is vague. Subsequent reports of D. armata by a number of the other workers (e.g. Woodwick 1964, Blake & Kudenov 1978, Blake 1983, Martin 1996, Bick 2001, Radashevsky & Nogueira 2003) have extended its distribution and variously adjusted its diagnosis. Radashevsky & Nogueira (2003), re-described D. armata with specimens from Sao Paulo, Brazil although they examined material from many localities, ranging from Portugal to Belize and from Thailand to New Zealand. However, their re-description differs from the original by Langerhans. We do not agree with the diagnosis and the wide distribution of D. armata as presented by Radashevsky & Nogueira (2003). We think it is necessary that specimens from other localities are actually compared to specimens from the type locality. In fact one possible species, Polydora rogeri Martin, 1996, was synonymised with D. armata by Radashevsky & Nogueira (2003).