Salazar-Vallejo, Sergio I. ; Carrera-Parra, Luis F.; De León-González, Jesus Angel. 2011. Giant Eunicid Polychaetes (Annelida) in shallow tropical and temperate seas. Revista de Biologia Tropical 59(4): 1463–1474
156523
Carrera-parra, L. F.
2011
Giant Eunicid Polychaetes (Annelida) in shallow tropical and temperate seas
World Polychaeta Database (WPolyD). Essay. Quote: "[Internet] images available of large eunicids from tropical and subtropical seas indicate several pigmentation patterns and a variety of habitats, from sandy or muddy sediments to rocks or sponges; they probably belong to different species but none has been identified"
Some species of Eunice might reach giant size, often being longer than 2m, and they are known from tropical and temperate seas. Despite their large size and recent internet notoriety, there remain some taxonomic problems in large-sized eunicids, especially since original descriptions were brief and type materials are often missing. As a mean to encourage the solution of this situation, we review the historical progress in the taxonomy of the group, including some comments on generic and specific delineation, and recommend some critical steps to solve the current confusion. These ideally would include collecting in type localities, evaluate ontogenetic morphological changes, and generate some molecular analysis to complement the morphological approach
