Deep-Sea taxon details
Myxicola Meneghini, 1847
129537 (urn:lsid:marinespecies.org:taxname:129537)
accepted
Genus
marine, brackish, fresh, terrestrial
recent only
neuter
Renier, Stefano Andrea [posthumously as edited by Meneghini, Guiseppe]. (1847). Osservazioni postume di Zoologia Adriatica del Professore Stefano Andrea Renier, membro effettivo dell'Istituto Italiano, pubblicate per cura dell'I. R. Istituto Veneto de Scienze, Lettere ed Arti a studio del membro
effettivo Prof. G. Meneghini. pp. ix, (1), 120, (2), 16 plates. Giovanni Cecchini, Venezia., available online at https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.158723
page(s): 52 ; note: based on a Koch MS fide Nomenclator Zoologicus & Grube 1855 [details]
page(s): 52 ; note: based on a Koch MS fide Nomenclator Zoologicus & Grube 1855 [details]
Etymology Myxicola is a name created by Koch for Myxicola villosa, a name he presented only orally (as far as we know), but which was...
Etymology Myxicola is a name created by Koch for Myxicola villosa, a name he presented only orally (as far as we know), but which was adopted by Meneghini the next year. Greek 'myxa, feminine, means mucus (slime) and 'cola', neuter, means dweller or inhabitant, thus 'slime dweller' is clearly a reference to the slime tube built by species of this genus. The species-group name 'villosa' of Koch might have been intended as a recombination of Cuvier's (1830) Sabella villosa, but there is no way of checking if this supposition is correct. [details]
Read, G.; Fauchald, K. (Ed.) (2025). World Polychaeta Database. Myxicola Meneghini, 1847. Accessed through: Glover, A.G.; Higgs, N.; Horton, T. (2025) World Register of Deep-Sea species (WoRDSS) at: https://www.marinespecies.org/DeepSea/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=129537 on 2026-06-09
Glover, A.G.; Higgs, N.; Horton, T. (2026). World Register of Deep-Sea species (WoRDSS). Myxicola Meneghini, 1847. Accessed at: https://marinespecies.org/deepsea/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=129537 on 2026-06-09
Date
action
by
original description
Renier, Stefano Andrea [posthumously as edited by Meneghini, Guiseppe]. (1847). Osservazioni postume di Zoologia Adriatica del Professore Stefano Andrea Renier, membro effettivo dell'Istituto Italiano, pubblicate per cura dell'I. R. Istituto Veneto de Scienze, Lettere ed Arti a studio del membro
effettivo Prof. G. Meneghini. pp. ix, (1), 120, (2), 16 plates. Giovanni Cecchini, Venezia., available online at https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.158723
page(s): 52 ; note: based on a Koch MS fide Nomenclator Zoologicus & Grube 1855 [details]
taxonomy source Tilic, Ekin; Sayyari, Erfan; Stiller, Josefin; Mirarab, Siavash; Rouse, Greg W. (2020). More is needed—Thousands of loci are required to elucidate the relationships of the 'flowers of the sea' (Sabellida, Annelida). <em>Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution.</em> 151: 106892: 1-9., available online at https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1055790320301640
page(s): 7 of 9; note: Moved to a new classification in tribe Myxicolini of subfamily Myxicolinae [details] Available for editors
taxonomy source Putignano, Matteo; Langeneck, Joachim; Giangrande, Adriana. (2024). The forgotten diversity of the genus <i>Myxicola</i> (Polychaeta: Sabellidae) in North America: redescription of historical taxa and description of two new species. <em>Journal of Natural History.</em> 58(37-40): 1393-1427., available online at https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00222933.2024.2370664 [details]
taxonomy source Claparède, Édouard. (1869). Les Annélides Chétopodes du Golfe de Naples. Seconde partie. Ordre II<sup>me</sup>. Annélides Sédentaires (Aud. et Edw.). <em>Mémoires de la Société de Physique et d'Histoire Naturelle de Genève.</em> 20(1): 1-225, plates XVII-XXXI., available online at https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/14264110
page(s): 140-141; note: emendation of Myxicola diagnosis, synonymy of "Myxicola infundibulum" [details]
additional source Fauchald, K. (1977). The polychaete worms, definitions and keys to the orders, families and genera. <em>Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County: Los Angeles, CA (USA), Science Series.</em> 28:1-188., available online at http://www.vliz.be/imisdocs/publications/123110.pdf [details]
additional source Bellan, G. (2001). Polychaeta, <i>in</i>: Costello, M.J. <i>et al.</i> (Ed.) (2001). European register of marine species: a check-list of the marine species in Europe and a bibliography of guides to their identification. <em>Collection Patrimoines Naturels.</em> 50: 214-231. (look up in IMIS) [details]
additional source Muir, Alexander I.; Petersen, Mary E. (2013). Authorship of some polychaete (Annelida) names derived from the works of Renier and Savigny. <em>Zootaxa.</em> 3717(3): 383., available online at https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3717.3.8
note: discusses nomenclatural issues [details] Available for editors
redescription Grube, Adolph Eduard. (1855). Beschreibungen neuer oder wenig bekannter Anneliden. <em>Archiv für Naturgeschichte, Berlin.</em> 21(1): 81-136, plates III-V., available online at https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/6651100
page(s): 121-122; note: attributes authorship to Koch in Renier. Possibly the first adoption of Myxicola as a valid genus although in Renier/Meneghini (1847) from which Grube takes the name it is only present in a binominal ...
[details]
page(s): 52 ; note: based on a Koch MS fide Nomenclator Zoologicus & Grube 1855 [details]
taxonomy source Tilic, Ekin; Sayyari, Erfan; Stiller, Josefin; Mirarab, Siavash; Rouse, Greg W. (2020). More is needed—Thousands of loci are required to elucidate the relationships of the 'flowers of the sea' (Sabellida, Annelida). <em>Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution.</em> 151: 106892: 1-9., available online at https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1055790320301640
page(s): 7 of 9; note: Moved to a new classification in tribe Myxicolini of subfamily Myxicolinae [details] Available for editors
taxonomy source Putignano, Matteo; Langeneck, Joachim; Giangrande, Adriana. (2024). The forgotten diversity of the genus <i>Myxicola</i> (Polychaeta: Sabellidae) in North America: redescription of historical taxa and description of two new species. <em>Journal of Natural History.</em> 58(37-40): 1393-1427., available online at https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00222933.2024.2370664 [details]
taxonomy source Claparède, Édouard. (1869). Les Annélides Chétopodes du Golfe de Naples. Seconde partie. Ordre II<sup>me</sup>. Annélides Sédentaires (Aud. et Edw.). <em>Mémoires de la Société de Physique et d'Histoire Naturelle de Genève.</em> 20(1): 1-225, plates XVII-XXXI., available online at https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/14264110
page(s): 140-141; note: emendation of Myxicola diagnosis, synonymy of "Myxicola infundibulum" [details]
additional source Fauchald, K. (1977). The polychaete worms, definitions and keys to the orders, families and genera. <em>Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County: Los Angeles, CA (USA), Science Series.</em> 28:1-188., available online at http://www.vliz.be/imisdocs/publications/123110.pdf [details]
additional source Bellan, G. (2001). Polychaeta, <i>in</i>: Costello, M.J. <i>et al.</i> (Ed.) (2001). European register of marine species: a check-list of the marine species in Europe and a bibliography of guides to their identification. <em>Collection Patrimoines Naturels.</em> 50: 214-231. (look up in IMIS) [details]
additional source Muir, Alexander I.; Petersen, Mary E. (2013). Authorship of some polychaete (Annelida) names derived from the works of Renier and Savigny. <em>Zootaxa.</em> 3717(3): 383., available online at https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3717.3.8
note: discusses nomenclatural issues [details] Available for editors
redescription Grube, Adolph Eduard. (1855). Beschreibungen neuer oder wenig bekannter Anneliden. <em>Archiv für Naturgeschichte, Berlin.</em> 21(1): 81-136, plates III-V., available online at https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/6651100
page(s): 121-122; note: attributes authorship to Koch in Renier. Possibly the first adoption of Myxicola as a valid genus although in Renier/Meneghini (1847) from which Grube takes the name it is only present in a binominal ...
attributes authorship to Koch in Renier. Possibly the first adoption of Myxicola as a valid genus although in Renier/Meneghini (1847) from which Grube takes the name it is only present in a binominal synonym of Tuba infundibulum, as Myxicola villosa.
Present Inaccurate Introduced: alien Containing type locality
From editor or global species database
Authority Grube (1855: 121) assigns the authorship just to Koch, but this evidently is Koch as published in Meneghini, 1847, p.52. Neave assigns the authority to Renier, 1847 (actually to Meneghini, the editor of Renier), but with the note "(Koch MS)". Meneghini added the mention of 'Myxicola villosa' long after the death of Renier in 1830, so strictly Renier had nothing to do with Myxicola, except that the name appears in a work his name is associated with. [details]Editor's comment The Myxicola type species has been assumed to be Terebella infundibulum Renier [1804] by subsequent designation (e.g. Hartman catalogue p.551), but this name is unpublished (ICZN Opinion 316) until 1847. Meneghini (1847) publishing Renier posthumously used it again as a heading and included mention of Myxicola (as Myxicola villosa) only in his synonymy of his preferred name of Tuba infundibulum (derived from basionym Terebella infundibulum. Combined in Myxicola, as noted by Muir & Petersen (2013) it is junior to Amphitrite infundibulum Montagu, 1808 if they represent the same species, and also a junior secondary homonym (both presumably named for the funnel-like appearance of the crown). Further clarification of these issues seems necessary. [details]
Etymology Myxicola is a name created by Koch for Myxicola villosa, a name he presented only orally (as far as we know), but which was adopted by Meneghini the next year. Greek 'myxa, feminine, means mucus (slime) and 'cola', neuter, means dweller or inhabitant, thus 'slime dweller' is clearly a reference to the slime tube built by species of this genus. The species-group name 'villosa' of Koch might have been intended as a recombination of Cuvier's (1830) Sabella villosa, but there is no way of checking if this supposition is correct. [details]
From editor or global species database
![Original plate of Amphitrite infundibulum [now Myxicola infundibulum]](https://images.marinespecies.org/thumbs/129309_original-plate-of-amphitrite-infundibulum-now-myxicola-infundibulum.jpg?w=150 "Original plate of Amphitrite infundibulum [now Myxicola infundibulum]")
Image from typetaxon
Unreviewed
Image from typetaxon
Image from typetaxon
