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The family Pilargiidae (including the Kynephoridae Ehlers, 1920) was erected by St. Joseph (1899) for a single species,
Pilargis verrucosa St. Joseph from littoral zones in France. The first species of the family,
1 however, was
Ancistrosyllis groenlandica McIntosh (1878) from deep water off Greenland but this was originally referred to the family Syllidae. A year later Webster (1879) described 2 species,
Phronia tardigrada and
Cabira incerta from Virginia, placing them in uncertain positions. The first of these has since been referred to
Ancistrosyllis but the second remains enigmatical. In 1893 Korschelt found a pelagic larval pilargiid off Trieste, Italy which he named
Harpochaeta cingulata, but this has since been referred to
Ancistrosyllis. In the years since then a few additional records of this unique family have appeared but their occurrence in collections has been extremely rare. The pilargiids, as known today, still represent a small, unusual group. The few known genera are aberrant in their relations to one another, perhaps because they represent relict species. Since most of them are small and easily overlooked, it is also likely that more intensive search will reveal others.
1Sigambra grubii Müller (1858, Arch. Naturgesch., vol. 24.1, pp. 214-215, pl. 6, figs. 7-9) from Santa Catharina, Brazil, known only through a brief, original account, seems to be an
Ancistrosyllis, belonging to the group with long cirri. If its status can be more clearly verified from topotypes, a change in nomenclature may be desired, since the name
Sigambra Müller predates
Ancistrosyllis McIntosh. Another name, Otopsidae Ditlevsen (1917, Danish Ingolf Exped., vol. 4, pt. 4, pp. 67-69) erected for
Otopsis longipes Ditlevsen, from off southwest Ireland in 843 fms, is also to be referred to the family Pilargiidae, but since the palpi were not described, the generic status, whether
Pilargis or
Ancistrosyllis, cannot be ascertained.