Peruvian Register of Marine Species
PeRMS source details
This constitutes one of the oldest known groups of polychaetous annelids; it was already known in the late seventeen hundreds through the species Capitella capitata (Fabricius). The affinities of the group with other polychaetous annelids, however, were not clarified until detailed anatomical studies of organ systems had verified and proved their true relations. They had been variously considered as oligochaetes, representatives of Maldanidae, Arenicolidae, and Serpuliformia even as late as 1865 (see Eisig, 1887, pp. 1-10, for detailed history).
The family name was first erected as the Capitellacea by Grube (1862) when Notomastus, Dasybranchus, and Capitella were correctly grouped together. A year later the family name, Halelminthea Carus, was proposed for Capitella, but this author considered it in the Oligochaeta together with an opheliid, Polyophthalmus; the name Halelminthea now has only historical interest. Today the various genera and species of Capitellidae (see below) are indisputably considered distinct, forming a closely related family; their affinities are with other sedentary chaetopods.
Pacific Ocean
Original diagnosis by Hartman (1959: 408-409): "Pointed setae and hooded hooks are present in both thorax and ... [details]
Original diagnosis by Hartman (1947: 437-438): "The thorax and abdomen are not distinctly separable in external ... [details]
Mission and Newport Bays, and Anaheim Slough in Southern California. Also in San Diego, California. [details]
The species inhabits mud flats in low, intertidal zones. [details]
Not stated by the author. The name of the genus seems to be composed by the Greek prefix a-, meaning 'not' or ... [details]
"Leiocapitella may be considered intermediate between Leiochrus Ehlers and Pseudocapitella Fauvel, hence the ... [details]
Feminine. Not originally stated but Capitella is feminine and Hartman (1947) used 'glabra' rather than 'glabrus'. [details]
The species Areniella filiformis Verrill, 1874, the type species of the genus, was considered by Hartman (1947: ... [details]
The synonymy between Isomastus Gravier, 1911 and Capitella Blainville, 1828 was first suggested by Augener (1932: ... [details]
One mile northwest of San Gabriel Bay, Espiritu Santo Island, Gulf of California, Mexico, 20-35 fathoms, in mud [details]