Flabelligera Sars, 1829 is the type genus for Flabelligeridae de Saint-Joseph, 1894 and includes species common in temperate or cold waters in the world oceans. Together with
Flabelliderma Hartman, 1969 they are the only genera whose neurohooks have multiarticulate handles and bending crests. However,
Flabelliderma species differ because they form large notopodial lobes, and often have dorsal sediment tubercles. The revision of all type and non-type materials resulted in the distinction of five body patterns within
Flabelligera; they can be recognized on the basis of body shape, tunic development, parapodial position, notopodial alignment, and shape of neurohooks.
Flabelligera is restricted and four genera are proposed:
Annenkova (neurohooks with crests tapered, apparently segmented),
Flabegraviera (notopodia in laterally descending series, notochaetae and neurochaetae in cylindrical sheaths, markedly longer than body width),
Flabehlersia (body fusiform, notopodia ventrolateral) and
Flabesymbios (body papillae not covered by tunic, notopodia dorsal with papillae in fan-shaped pattern, neuropodia ventral).
Flabelligera contains 16 species with three newly described and a replacement name is proposed:
F. haswelli n. n. pro
F. affine Haswell,
F. nuniezi n. sp. from the Northeastern Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea,
F. orensanzi n. sp. from the Southwestern Atlantic, and
F. salazarae n. sp. from the Eastern tropical Pacific.
Annenkova is monotypic:
A. mastigophora (Annenkova, 1952) n. comb. from the Northwestern Pacific.
Flabegraviera contains
F. mundata (Gravier, 1906) n. comb. and
F. profunda n. sp. both from the Antarctic.
Flabehlersia includes two species:
F. induta (Ehlers, 1897) n. comb. from Tierra del Fuego and
F. persimilis (Annenkova-Chlopina 1924) n. comb. from the Northwestern Pacific.
Flabesymbios contains two species living on Northeastern Pacific sea-urchins:
F. commensalis (Moore, 1909) n. comb. on
Strongylocentrotus and
F. roberti n. sp. on
Centrostephanus.
