The Spionidae of southeastern Australia are described. Intertidal and subtidal collections come mostly from Victoria, New South Wales and southern Queensland. A few records from West Australia, South Australia, Tasmania and the Great Barrier Reef (Queensland) are also included.
A total of 68 species in 19 genera have been identified. These include 4 new genera and 43 new species, with new synonyms and generic emendations also proposed.
The genera with pointed prostomia include
Scolelepis (9 species, 8 being new),
Aonides (1 species) and
Dispio (1 new species).
Australospio trifida gen. et. sp. nov. is a unique spionid with both a distally pointed prostomium and lateral prostomial horns. The genera with frontal or lateral prostomial horns include
Malacoceros (3 species, 2 being new),
Rhynchospio (2 new species) and
Scolecolepides (1 new species). The definition of
Rhynchospio is expanded to include those species with branchiae free from dorsal lamellae.
Laonice includes 3 new species, with 1 being a simultaneous hermaphrodite.
Spiophanes includes 3 species,
Spio with 3 species (2 being new) and
Microspio with 1 new species.
The genera of the
Prionospio-complex are reviewed and revised to include:
Paraprionospio (1 species),
Orthoprionospio gen. nov. (1 new species),
Streblospio (not represented) and
Prionospio (9 species, 5 being new).
A generic revision of the
Polydora-complex is presented with 6 genera recognized:
Boccardia (3 species),
Carazziella gen. nov. (4 new species),
Polydora (15 species, 8 being new),
Boccardiella gen. nov. (2 species, 1 being new),
Tripolydora (not represented) and
Pseudopolydora (5 species, 2 being new).
Polydorella is synonymized with
Pseudopolydora.
Approximately 2/3 of the species reported herein are endemic to Australia; the remainder are species with more cosmopolitan distributions.
