Refining the morphological characteristics of Dipolydora capensis (Day, 1955) and Dipolydora goreensis (Augener, 1918) (Annelida: Polychaeta: Spionidae) from Atlantic African waters

Abstract

Together with Syllidae, Nereididae and Eunicidae, Spionidae is one of the four more speciose families of polychaete annelids in southern Africa, comprising 25% of the known species and 53–85% of the unresolved cosmopolitans. Among southern African spionids, the genus Dipolydora Verrill, 1881 particularly requires further revision and, in this paper, we contribute by refining the morphological characteristics of D. capensis (Day, 1955) and D. goreensis (Augener, 1918). Neither species has been redescribed since their original description and are currently difficult to distinguish and identify. Therefore, our study provides additional morphological details based on examining type specimens and newly collected materials from South Africa and the Republic of Congo.