Watson, C. (2009). A new species of Clavisyllis Knox, 1957 (Polychaeta: Syllidae): a genus with the unusual distribution of New Zealand and the Great Barrier Reef, Northern Queensland, Australia. The Beagle, Records of the Museums and Art Galleries of the Northern Territory. 25, 79-85.
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Watson, C.
2009
A new species of <i>Clavisyllis</i> Knox, 1957 (Polychaeta: Syllidae): a genus with the unusual distribution of New Zealand and the Great Barrier Reef, Northern Queensland, Australia
The Beagle, Records of the Museums and Art Galleries of the Northern Territory
An intriguing small syllid polychaete belonging to the genus Clavisyllis Knox, 1957 is described from coral reefs of northern Queensland, Australia. Clavisyllis yongei sp. nov. possesses large inflated lobe-like dorsal cirri, coloured yellow-orange with white tips, that alternate in segmental insertion positions and form longitudinal rows down the dorsum; similar shaped dorsal tentacular and antennal cirri, large nuchal epaulettes, elongate palps fused only at their base, and a pharynx with a trepan. The new taxon is compared with the only other species in the genus Clavisyllis alternata Knox, 1957, and possible scenarios for the unusual geographic distribution of tropical northern Australia and temperate New Zealand are discussed. Clavisyllis is also compared with Eurysyllis, another syllid genus possessing rows of dorsal lobes, specifically Eurysyllis japonica, a new record for the Great Barrier Reef, Australia.