Taxonomy of polychaetes from the Hawkesbury River and the southern estuaries of New South Wales, Australia
Abstract
The polychaete fauna of the Hawkesbury River and some other estuarine areas in central and southern New South Wales is described. The majority of material comes from Merimbula, Jervis Bay, Port Hacking, Botany Bay, Hawkesbury River, Port Stephens and Broughton Island; often from seagrass habitats. The material from the Hawkesbury River has been collected over several years and detailed habitat and occurrence data are available. Over 180 species are recorded, of which 28 species and 4 genera are new: Harmothoe charlottae n.sp., Sthenelais pettiboneae n.sp., Compsanaitis inflata n.gen., n.sp., Podarke microantennata n.sp., Augeneria verdis n.sp., Schistomeringosjilijormis n.sp., Caulleriella dimorphosetosa n.sp., C. longisetosa n.sp., C. retusiseta n.sp., Chaetozone platycerca n.sp., Tharyx aphelocephalus n.sp., Lobochesis bibrancha n.gen., n.sp., L. longiseta n.sp., Ophelia elongata n.sp., O. multibranchia n.sp., Notomastus annulus n.sp., N. chrysosetus n.sp., N. estuarius n.sp., Polycirrus rosea n.sp., Pseudostreblosoma serratum n.gen., n.sp., Streblosoma atos n.sp., S. latitudinis n.sp., Longicarpus glandulus n.gen., n.sp., Nicolea amnis n.sp., Terebella pappus n.sp., Desdemona aniara n.sp., Euchone variabilis n.sp., and Laonome triangularis n.sp. For each species a full description is given except where a recent easily accessible description in English is available, in which case only a reference to that description is given. Habitat data where known is given together with the Australian distribution of the species. Many of the species are new records for Australia or for New South Wales. Keys to the families and species described in the paper are given.
