WoRMS name details
Nereis mendax Stimpson, 1856
337301 (urn:lsid:marinespecies.org:taxname:337301)
uncertain > taxon inquirendum (indeterminable, type possibly lost)
Species
Perinereis mendax (Stimpson, 1856) · uncertain > taxon inquirendum (superseded recombination of taxon...)
superseded recombination of taxon inquirendum
marine, brackish, fresh, terrestrial
recent only
Stimpson, W. (1855). Descriptions of some new marine Invertebrata. <em>Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia.</em> 7(10): 385-394., available online at http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/1694499
page(s): 392 [details]
page(s): 392 [details]
Note False Bay, Cape of Good Hope, South Africa. A...
From editor or global species database
Type locality False Bay, Cape of Good Hope, South Africa. A general geolocation for False Bay is 34.22 S, 18.64 E [details]
Depth range Circumlittoral zone.
Description This is the full description by Stimpson: "Small, rather slender, largest anteriorly, flattened posteriorly. Head...
Distribution SE Atlantic Ocean: False Bay, Cape of Good Hope (South Africa). Known only from the type locality.
Etymology Not stated, unknown. The specific epithet mendax is a Latin adjective meaning 'deceptive', 'lying' or 'false', and could...
Status "Type material of Nereis mendax was not available as Stimpson’s collection was lost in the great Chicago fire (
Depth range Circumlittoral zone. [details]
Description This is the full description by Stimpson: "Small, rather slender, largest anteriorly, flattened posteriorly. Head...
Description This is the full description by Stimpson: "Small, rather slender, largest anteriorly, flattened posteriorly. Head elongated, narrow, with the terminal tentacles well developed and extending somewhat beyond the thick inferior ones; tentacula cirri very slender, variable in length, but usually reaching beyond the tentacles; eyes very conspicuous, the posterior ones largest and nearest to each other. Pinnae rather large, anterior ones with pointed lingulae, and dorsal and ventral cirri; in the posterior pinnae the superior lingula loses its cirrus, and expands into a broad lamella. Color variable; pale red, or brownish, often farinaceous posteriorly; always with a dorsal line of flake-white, and a white spot between the eyes. Length, 1.5 inches; breadth, 0.2 inch. It inhabits a tube. Common in the circumlittoral zone." [details]
Distribution SE Atlantic Ocean: False Bay, Cape of Good Hope (South Africa). Known only from the type locality.
Distribution SE Atlantic Ocean: False Bay, Cape of Good Hope (South Africa). Known only from the type locality. [details]
Etymology Not stated, unknown. The specific epithet mendax is a Latin adjective meaning 'deceptive', 'lying' or 'false', and could...
Etymology Not stated, unknown. The specific epithet mendax is a Latin adjective meaning 'deceptive', 'lying' or 'false', and could refer to the size of the species, described as being "Small, rather slender" (Stimpson, 1856: 392). [details]
Status "Type material of Nereis mendax was not available as Stimpson’s collection was lost in the great Chicago fire (
Status "Type material of Nereis mendax was not available as Stimpson’s collection was lost in the great Chicago fire (https://siarchives.si.edu/collections/siris_arc_217251). Due to the vague species description and absence of type material of this species, this name is considered indeterminable." (Kara et al., 2018: 1283). [details]
Read, G.; Fauchald, K. (Ed.) (2024). World Polychaeta Database. Nereis mendax Stimpson, 1856. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=337301 on 2024-04-19
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original description
Stimpson, W. (1855). Descriptions of some new marine Invertebrata. <em>Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia.</em> 7(10): 385-394., available online at http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/1694499
page(s): 392 [details]
taxonomy source Grube, A. E. (1867). Anneliden. <em>Reise der Österreichischen Fregatte Novara um die Erde in den Jahren 1857, 1858, 1859 unter den befehlen des Commodore B. von Wüllerstorf-Urbair. Zoologischer Theil.</em> 2(3.2): 1-46, plates I-IV., available online at https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/11710832
page(s): 18-19; note: Grube compares his new Nereis (Nereilepas) stimpsonis with Stimpson's Nereis mendax, also from the Cape, South Africa. [details]
source of synonymy Day, J.H. (1967). A monograph on the Polychaeta of Southern Africa. British Museum (Natural History). London. vol 1 & vol 2, 1-878., available online at http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/8596
page(s): 293; note: listing questionably linking Nereis mendax to Pseudonereis variegata [details]
new combination reference Willey, Arthur. (1904). Littoral Polychaeta from the Cape of Good Hope. <em>Transactions of the Linnean Society of London, Series 2, Zoology.</em> 9(6): 255-268, plates 13-14., available online at https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/16416472
page(s): 262, plate 13 fig. 13, plate 14 figs. 3-6; note: as Perinereis mendax [details]
status source Kara, Jyothi; Macdonald, Angus H.H.; Simon, Carol A. (2018). Integrative taxonomic methods reveal an incorrect synonymisation of the South African <i>Pseudonereis podocirra</i> (Schmarda) as the widespread <i>Pseudonereis variegata</i> (Grube) from Chile. <em>Invertebrate Systematics.</em> 32(6): 1282-1297., available online at http://www.publish.csiro.au/IS/IS18016
page(s): 1283; note: Nereis mendax considered as 'indeterminable' [details] Available for editors
[request]
page(s): 392 [details]
taxonomy source Grube, A. E. (1867). Anneliden. <em>Reise der Österreichischen Fregatte Novara um die Erde in den Jahren 1857, 1858, 1859 unter den befehlen des Commodore B. von Wüllerstorf-Urbair. Zoologischer Theil.</em> 2(3.2): 1-46, plates I-IV., available online at https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/11710832
page(s): 18-19; note: Grube compares his new Nereis (Nereilepas) stimpsonis with Stimpson's Nereis mendax, also from the Cape, South Africa. [details]
source of synonymy Day, J.H. (1967). A monograph on the Polychaeta of Southern Africa. British Museum (Natural History). London. vol 1 & vol 2, 1-878., available online at http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/8596
page(s): 293; note: listing questionably linking Nereis mendax to Pseudonereis variegata [details]
new combination reference Willey, Arthur. (1904). Littoral Polychaeta from the Cape of Good Hope. <em>Transactions of the Linnean Society of London, Series 2, Zoology.</em> 9(6): 255-268, plates 13-14., available online at https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/16416472
page(s): 262, plate 13 fig. 13, plate 14 figs. 3-6; note: as Perinereis mendax [details]
status source Kara, Jyothi; Macdonald, Angus H.H.; Simon, Carol A. (2018). Integrative taxonomic methods reveal an incorrect synonymisation of the South African <i>Pseudonereis podocirra</i> (Schmarda) as the widespread <i>Pseudonereis variegata</i> (Grube) from Chile. <em>Invertebrate Systematics.</em> 32(6): 1282-1297., available online at http://www.publish.csiro.au/IS/IS18016
page(s): 1283; note: Nereis mendax considered as 'indeterminable' [details] Available for editors
[request] 
Present Present in aphia/obis/gbif/idigbio Inaccurate Introduced: alien Containing type locality
From editor or global species database
Depth range Circumlittoral zone. [details]Description This is the full description by Stimpson: "Small, rather slender, largest anteriorly, flattened posteriorly. Head elongated, narrow, with the terminal tentacles well developed and extending somewhat beyond the thick inferior ones; tentacula cirri very slender, variable in length, but usually reaching beyond the tentacles; eyes very conspicuous, the posterior ones largest and nearest to each other. Pinnae rather large, anterior ones with pointed lingulae, and dorsal and ventral cirri; in the posterior pinnae the superior lingula loses its cirrus, and expands into a broad lamella. Color variable; pale red, or brownish, often farinaceous posteriorly; always with a dorsal line of flake-white, and a white spot between the eyes. Length, 1.5 inches; breadth, 0.2 inch. It inhabits a tube. Common in the circumlittoral zone." [details]
Distribution SE Atlantic Ocean: False Bay, Cape of Good Hope (South Africa). Known only from the type locality. [details]
Editor's comment Due to the short unillustrated description of the species, the lack of information concerning the paragnath distribution, and the possible lost of the type material in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, Nereis mendax Stimpson, 1856 is now considered to be indeterminable (Kara et al., 2018). However, some of the described features, already used by Grube (1868) to compare N. mendax with his newly described Nereis (Nereilepas) stimpsonis from the same area, may enable the identification of the species from the pool of nereids present in the region of its type locality (Table Bay, South Africa), namely: i) the presence of pointed ligules in the anterior chetigers; ii) posterior chaetigers with notopodial ligules expanding into a broad lamella and loosing the dorsal cirrus (maybe considerably reducing its size and becoming inconspicuous at the tip of the lamella?); iii) posterior pair of eyes being largest and nearest to each other; and finally iv) a color pattern described as being "variable; pale red, or brownish, often farinaceous posteriorly" but "always with a dorsal line of flake-white, and a white spot between the eyes". [details]
Editor's comment No records apart from the original description. It seems likely that the type of Nereis mendax is lost as it is not recorded at the USNM. Stimpson lost his work and collections in the Chicago fire of 1871 (see Smithsonian archive note). As the original description has no description of the paragnath patterns, the species is probably indeterminable without the type. Name placed as a taxon inquirendum here as further investigation is required, and since Day's tentative synonymy under Pseudonereis variegata is not possible. [details]
Etymology Not stated, unknown. The specific epithet mendax is a Latin adjective meaning 'deceptive', 'lying' or 'false', and could refer to the size of the species, described as being "Small, rather slender" (Stimpson, 1856: 392). [details]
Habitat "It inhabits a tube. Common in the circumlittoral zone" (Stimpson, 1856: 392). [details]
Status "Type material of Nereis mendax was not available as Stimpson’s collection was lost in the great Chicago fire (https://siarchives.si.edu/collections/siris_arc_217251). Due to the vague species description and absence of type material of this species, this name is considered indeterminable." (Kara et al., 2018: 1283). [details]
Synonymy Day (1967: 293) has a suggested (with a ?) synonymy for Nereis mendax to Pseudonereis variegata (Grube, 1857), a species from South America, but the reasoning for this is not stated. Day records P. variegata for the Cape area. A difficulty for this synonymy proposal is that N. mendax is the senior name. Day also places Nereis stimpsonis Grube, 1868, described also from Cape of Good Hope, under Perinereis variegata. [details]
Type locality False Bay, Cape of Good Hope, South Africa. A general geolocation for False Bay is 34.22 S, 18.64 E [details]
