WoRMS taxon details
Spirobranchus tetraceros (Schmarda, 1861)
131055 (urn:lsid:marinespecies.org:taxname:131055)
accepted
Species
Galeolaria tetracerus (Schmarda, 1861) · unaccepted (superseded recombination)
Pomatoceros elaphus Haswell, 1884 · unaccepted (subjective synonym)
Pomatoceros tetraceros Schmarda, 1861 · unaccepted (superseded original combination)
Vermilia tetraceros (Schmarda, 1861) · unaccepted (superseded recombination)
marine, brackish, fresh, terrestrial
recent only
(of Pomatoceros tetraceros Schmarda, 1861) Schmarda, L. K. (1861). Neue Wirbellose Thiere: Beobachted und Gesammelt auf einer Reise um die Erdr 1853 bis 1857. <em>In Turbellarien, Rotatorien und Anneliden. Leipzig, Verlag von Wilhelm Engelmann.</em> Erster Band, Zweite Hälfte., available online at http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/ia/neuewirbelloseth21861schm
page(s): 30, plate 21, figure 179 [details]
page(s): 30, plate 21, figure 179 [details]
Neotype AM W.51859, geounit New South Wales
Neotype AM W.51859, geounit New South Wales [details]
Status The reported wide distribution of S. tetraceros was a result of a study by ten Hove (1970) which lumped 22 nominal...
Status The reported wide distribution of S. tetraceros was a result of a study by ten Hove (1970) which lumped 22 nominal Spirobranchus taxa world-wide under the oldest available name. Later the original species from Australis was regarded to be part of a complex of species by Frank & ten Hove (1992), Fiege & ten Hove (1999: 362), ten Hove & Kupriyanova (2009), and split into a number of taxa by Pillai (2009). Recently DNA sequence data of Palero et al. (2020) confirmed the status of the nominal S. tetraceros. Kupriyanova et al. (2023) designated the neotype of Spirobranchus tetraceros from NSW supported by DNA sequence data and demonstrated that several species of the S. tetraceros complex are found in Australia alone. [details]
Read, G.; Fauchald, K. (Ed.) (2025). World Polychaeta Database. Spirobranchus tetraceros (Schmarda, 1861). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=131055 on 2025-09-11
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Nomenclature
original description
(of Pomatoceros elaphus Haswell, 1884) Haswell, William Aitcheson. (1884). The marine annelides of the order <i>Serpulea</i>. Some observations on their anatomy, with the characteristics of the Australian species. <em>Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales.</em> 9(3): 649-675, plates 31-35., available online at http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/6602691
page(s): 663-665, plate 31 fig. 7 plate 32 figs. 9-10 [details]
original description (of Pomatoceros tetraceros Schmarda, 1861) Schmarda, L. K. (1861). Neue Wirbellose Thiere: Beobachted und Gesammelt auf einer Reise um die Erdr 1853 bis 1857. <em>In Turbellarien, Rotatorien und Anneliden. Leipzig, Verlag von Wilhelm Engelmann.</em> Erster Band, Zweite Hälfte., available online at http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/ia/neuewirbelloseth21861schm
page(s): 30, plate 21, figure 179 [details]
new combination reference Ehlers, Ernst. (1907). Neuseeländische Anneliden. II. <em>Abhandlungen der Königlichen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen. Mathematisch-Physikalische Klasse. Neue Folge.</em> 5(4): 3-31., available online at http://goo.gl/Jpqjvv
page(s): 29; note: mentioned in text flow recombined as Spirobranchus tetraceros, in a record for Spirobranchus cariniferus of New Zealand [details]
page(s): 663-665, plate 31 fig. 7 plate 32 figs. 9-10 [details]
original description (of Pomatoceros tetraceros Schmarda, 1861) Schmarda, L. K. (1861). Neue Wirbellose Thiere: Beobachted und Gesammelt auf einer Reise um die Erdr 1853 bis 1857. <em>In Turbellarien, Rotatorien und Anneliden. Leipzig, Verlag von Wilhelm Engelmann.</em> Erster Band, Zweite Hälfte., available online at http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/ia/neuewirbelloseth21861schm
page(s): 30, plate 21, figure 179 [details]
new combination reference Ehlers, Ernst. (1907). Neuseeländische Anneliden. II. <em>Abhandlungen der Königlichen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen. Mathematisch-Physikalische Klasse. Neue Folge.</em> 5(4): 3-31., available online at http://goo.gl/Jpqjvv
page(s): 29; note: mentioned in text flow recombined as Spirobranchus tetraceros, in a record for Spirobranchus cariniferus of New Zealand [details]
Taxonomy
taxonomy source
Palero, Ferran;Torrado, Hector; Perry, Orly; Kupriyanova, Elena; Ulman, Aylin; Genis-Armero, Rebeca; ten Hove, Harry A.;Capaccioni-Azzati, Romana. (2020). Following the Phoenician example: western Mediterranean colonization by Spirobranchus cf. tetraceros (Annelida: Serpulidae). <em>Scientia Marina.</em> 84(1): efirst 1-10., available online at https://doi.org/10.3989/scimar.04976.20A [details] Available for editors 
[request]
redescription Kupriyanova, Elena K.; Flaxman, Beth; Burghardt, Ingo. (2022). A puzzle no more: the identity of Spirobranchus tetraceros (Schmarda, 1861) (Annelida, Serpulidae) is revealed. <em>Records of the Australian Museum.</em> 74(5): 201-214., available online at https://journals.australian.museum/kupriyanova-2022-rec-aust-mus-745-201214/
page(s): 206, figures 3A–C, 4; note: Neotype, Australian Museum W.51859, New South Wales, Port Botany, off La Perouse Point, 33°59'36"S 151°13'39"E, [details] Available for editors [request]
redescription ten Hove, Harry A. (1970). Serpulinae (Polychaeta) from the Caribbean: I - The genus <i>Spirobranchus</i>. <em>Studies on the Fauna of Curaçao and other Caribbean Islands.</em> 32: 1-57, plates I-V., available online at https://repository.naturalis.nl/pub/506140
page(s): 3-14, 47-49, figs. 1-34 [details] Available for editors [request]
[request]redescription Kupriyanova, Elena K.; Flaxman, Beth; Burghardt, Ingo. (2022). A puzzle no more: the identity of Spirobranchus tetraceros (Schmarda, 1861) (Annelida, Serpulidae) is revealed. <em>Records of the Australian Museum.</em> 74(5): 201-214., available online at https://journals.australian.museum/kupriyanova-2022-rec-aust-mus-745-201214/
page(s): 206, figures 3A–C, 4; note: Neotype, Australian Museum W.51859, New South Wales, Port Botany, off La Perouse Point, 33°59'36"S 151°13'39"E, [details] Available for editors
[request]redescription ten Hove, Harry A. (1970). Serpulinae (Polychaeta) from the Caribbean: I - The genus <i>Spirobranchus</i>. <em>Studies on the Fauna of Curaçao and other Caribbean Islands.</em> 32: 1-57, plates I-V., available online at https://repository.naturalis.nl/pub/506140
page(s): 3-14, 47-49, figs. 1-34 [details] Available for editors
[request]Other
context source (Introduced species)
Katsanevakis, S.; Bogucarskis, K.; Gatto, F.; Vandekerkhove, J.; Deriu, I.; Cardoso A.S. (2012). Building the European Alien Species Information Network (EASIN): a novel approach for the exploration of distributed alien species data. <em>BioInvasions Records.</em> 1: 235-245., available online at http://easin.jrc.ec.europa.eu [details] Available for editors [request]
context source (HKRMS) Huang ZG. & Lin S. (1993). Biofouling of Deep Bay buoys. In: Morton B, editor. Proceedings of the first internationl conference on the marine biology of Hong Kong and the south China Sea. The marine biology of the South China Sea. Hong Kong University Press, Hong Kong.1: pp 153-165. [details]
additional source Fauvel, Pierre. (1930). Annélides polychètes de Nouvelle-Calédonie, receuillies par Mme A. Pruvot-Fol en 1928. <em>Archives de Zoologie Expérimentale et Générale.</em> 69(5): 501-562., available online at http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k54546138/f603.item [details] Available for editors [request]
additional source Brandão, I. C.; Brasil, A. C. D. S. (2020). On a new species of <em>Spirobranchus </em>Blainville, 1818 (Annelida: Serpulidae) and considerations on the genus along the Brazilian coast. <em>Papéis avulsos de zoologia, (Pap. Avulsos Zool., S. Paulo).</em> 60: 17-17., available online at https://doi.org/10.11606/1807-0205/2020.60.51 [details]
additional source Kupriyanova, Elena K.; Flaxman, Beth; Burghardt, Ingo. (2022). A puzzle no more: the identity of Spirobranchus tetraceros (Schmarda, 1861) (Annelida, Serpulidae) is revealed. <em>Records of the Australian Museum.</em> 74(5): 201-214., available online at https://journals.australian.museum/kupriyanova-2022-rec-aust-mus-745-201214/ [details] Available for editors [request]
additional source Day, J. H. (1967). [Sedentaria] A monograph on the Polychaeta of Southern Africa. Part 2. Sedentaria. British Museum (Natural History), London. pp. 459–842., available online at http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/8596
page(s): 803, figure 38.3 l,m,n; note: records as Spirobranchus tetraceros for Mozambique and Madagascar [details]
additional source Streftaris, N., A. Zenetos & E. Papathanassiou. (2005). Globalisation in marine ecosystems: the story of non-indigenous marine species across European seas. <em>Oceanogry and Marine Biology: an Annual Review.</em> 43: 419-453. (look up in IMIS) [details] Available for editors [request]
additional source Ben Eliahu, M. Nechama and Fiege, D. 1996. Serpulid tube-worms (Annelida: Polychaeta) of the central and eastern Mediterranean with particular attention to the Levant Basin. Senckenbergiana maritima, 28(1/3): 1-51, 12 figures, 7 tables.
page(s): 33, 34, 38 [details]
additional source Frank, U. and Hove, Harry A. ten 1992. In vitro exposure of Spirobranchus giganteus and S. tetraceros (Polychaeta, Serpulidae) to various turbidities; branchial morphologies an expression of filtering strategies? Oebalia 18: 45-52. [details]
additional source Fiege, D., Hove, Harry A. ten. 1999. Redescription of Spirobranchus gaymardi (Quatrefages, 1866) (Polychaeta: Serpulidae) from the Indo-Pacific with remarks on the Spirobranchus giganteus complex. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, London 126: 355-364.
page(s): 362 [details]
additional source Zenetos, A., M.E. Cinar, M.A. Pancucci-Papadopoulou, J.G. Harmelin, G. Furnari, F. Andaloro, N. Bellou, N. Streftaris & H. Zibrowius. (2005). Annotated list of marine alien species in the Mediterranean with records of the worst invasive species. <em>Mediterranean Marine Science.</em> 6 (2): 63-118., available online at https://www.researchgate.net/publication/273213810_Annotated_list_of_marine_alien_species_in_the_Mediterranean_with_records_of_the_worst_invasive_species [details] Available for editors [request]
additional source Liu, J.Y. [Ruiyu] (ed.). (2008). Checklist of marine biota of China seas. <em>China Science Press.</em> 1267 pp. (look up in IMIS) [details] Available for editors [request]
additional source Zenetos, A., S. Gofas, M. Verlaque, M. Cinar, J. Garcia Raso, C. Bianchi, C. Morri, E. Azzurro, M. Bilecenoglu, C. Froglia, I. Siokou, D. Violanti, A. Sfriso, G. San Martin, A. Giangrande, T. Katagan, E. Ballesteros, A. Ramos-Espla, F. Mastrototaro, O. Ocana, A. Zingone, M,. Gambi & N. Streftaris. (2010). Alien species in the Mediterranean Sea by 2010. A contribution to the application of European Union's Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD). Part I. Spatial distribution. <em>Mediterranean Marine Science.</em> 11(2): 381-493., available online at https://doi.org/10.12681/mms.87 [details]
additional source Kupriyanova, Elena; Sun, Yanan; ten Hove, Harry A.; Wong, Eunice; Rouse, Greg W. (2015). Serpulidae (Annelida) of Lizard Island, Great Barrier Reef, Australia. <em>Zootaxa.</em> 4019(1): 275-353., available online at https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4019.1.13
page(s): 337; note: records for Lizard Island, and two body figures [details]
[request]context source (HKRMS) Huang ZG. & Lin S. (1993). Biofouling of Deep Bay buoys. In: Morton B, editor. Proceedings of the first internationl conference on the marine biology of Hong Kong and the south China Sea. The marine biology of the South China Sea. Hong Kong University Press, Hong Kong.1: pp 153-165. [details]
additional source Fauvel, Pierre. (1930). Annélides polychètes de Nouvelle-Calédonie, receuillies par Mme A. Pruvot-Fol en 1928. <em>Archives de Zoologie Expérimentale et Générale.</em> 69(5): 501-562., available online at http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k54546138/f603.item [details] Available for editors
[request]additional source Brandão, I. C.; Brasil, A. C. D. S. (2020). On a new species of <em>Spirobranchus </em>Blainville, 1818 (Annelida: Serpulidae) and considerations on the genus along the Brazilian coast. <em>Papéis avulsos de zoologia, (Pap. Avulsos Zool., S. Paulo).</em> 60: 17-17., available online at https://doi.org/10.11606/1807-0205/2020.60.51 [details]
additional source Kupriyanova, Elena K.; Flaxman, Beth; Burghardt, Ingo. (2022). A puzzle no more: the identity of Spirobranchus tetraceros (Schmarda, 1861) (Annelida, Serpulidae) is revealed. <em>Records of the Australian Museum.</em> 74(5): 201-214., available online at https://journals.australian.museum/kupriyanova-2022-rec-aust-mus-745-201214/ [details] Available for editors
[request]additional source Day, J. H. (1967). [Sedentaria] A monograph on the Polychaeta of Southern Africa. Part 2. Sedentaria. British Museum (Natural History), London. pp. 459–842., available online at http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/8596
page(s): 803, figure 38.3 l,m,n; note: records as Spirobranchus tetraceros for Mozambique and Madagascar [details]
additional source Streftaris, N., A. Zenetos & E. Papathanassiou. (2005). Globalisation in marine ecosystems: the story of non-indigenous marine species across European seas. <em>Oceanogry and Marine Biology: an Annual Review.</em> 43: 419-453. (look up in IMIS) [details] Available for editors
[request]additional source Ben Eliahu, M. Nechama and Fiege, D. 1996. Serpulid tube-worms (Annelida: Polychaeta) of the central and eastern Mediterranean with particular attention to the Levant Basin. Senckenbergiana maritima, 28(1/3): 1-51, 12 figures, 7 tables.
page(s): 33, 34, 38 [details]
additional source Frank, U. and Hove, Harry A. ten 1992. In vitro exposure of Spirobranchus giganteus and S. tetraceros (Polychaeta, Serpulidae) to various turbidities; branchial morphologies an expression of filtering strategies? Oebalia 18: 45-52. [details]
additional source Fiege, D., Hove, Harry A. ten. 1999. Redescription of Spirobranchus gaymardi (Quatrefages, 1866) (Polychaeta: Serpulidae) from the Indo-Pacific with remarks on the Spirobranchus giganteus complex. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, London 126: 355-364.
page(s): 362 [details]
additional source Zenetos, A., M.E. Cinar, M.A. Pancucci-Papadopoulou, J.G. Harmelin, G. Furnari, F. Andaloro, N. Bellou, N. Streftaris & H. Zibrowius. (2005). Annotated list of marine alien species in the Mediterranean with records of the worst invasive species. <em>Mediterranean Marine Science.</em> 6 (2): 63-118., available online at https://www.researchgate.net/publication/273213810_Annotated_list_of_marine_alien_species_in_the_Mediterranean_with_records_of_the_worst_invasive_species [details] Available for editors
[request]additional source Liu, J.Y. [Ruiyu] (ed.). (2008). Checklist of marine biota of China seas. <em>China Science Press.</em> 1267 pp. (look up in IMIS) [details] Available for editors
[request]additional source Zenetos, A., S. Gofas, M. Verlaque, M. Cinar, J. Garcia Raso, C. Bianchi, C. Morri, E. Azzurro, M. Bilecenoglu, C. Froglia, I. Siokou, D. Violanti, A. Sfriso, G. San Martin, A. Giangrande, T. Katagan, E. Ballesteros, A. Ramos-Espla, F. Mastrototaro, O. Ocana, A. Zingone, M,. Gambi & N. Streftaris. (2010). Alien species in the Mediterranean Sea by 2010. A contribution to the application of European Union's Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD). Part I. Spatial distribution. <em>Mediterranean Marine Science.</em> 11(2): 381-493., available online at https://doi.org/10.12681/mms.87 [details]
additional source Kupriyanova, Elena; Sun, Yanan; ten Hove, Harry A.; Wong, Eunice; Rouse, Greg W. (2015). Serpulidae (Annelida) of Lizard Island, Great Barrier Reef, Australia. <em>Zootaxa.</em> 4019(1): 275-353., available online at https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4019.1.13
page(s): 337; note: records for Lizard Island, and two body figures [details]
Present Present in aphia/obis/gbif/idigbio Inaccurate Introduced: alien Containing type locality
Neotype AM W.51859, geounit New South Wales [details]
From editor or global species database
Editor's comment The deep sea record by MESNIL & FAUVEL, 1939, p. 34. [Banda Sea, 4892m] is most probably a switch of two adjacent (in time) locality numbers of the Siboga expedition. All records known to me are shallower than 50 meters, this is a shallow water species only. [details]Editor's comment an additional synonym might be Vermetus indicus Daudin, 1800, also as Pomatoceros? indicus; Spirobranchus tricornis non Mörch, sensu authors, from non-Caribbean localities mostly belong to S. tetraceros as well. [details]
Editor's comment see remarks under Spirobranchus arabicus Monro, 1937 and the nomina nuda Spirobranchus cristatus Grube, 1862 and Spirobranchus kuwaitensis Pillai, 2009 as well [details]
Introduced species remark Spirobranchus tetraceros is a not a single circumtropical species (as per claim in Zenetos et al. 2010), but instead is part of a large complex of both tropical and warm-temperate morphologically similar species (Palero et al. 2020). The Spirobranchus species invading Eastern and now Western Mediterranean is not S. tetraceros sensu stricto. That latter species is apparently restricted to South-eastern Australia. The complex is now being revised and the identity and origin of the invader to the Mediterranean will be determined shortly. [details]
Neotype A neotype is named by Kupriyanova et al (2022), Australian Museum W.51859, from New South Wales, Port Botany, off La Perouse Point, 33°59'36"S 151°13'39"E, [details]
Status The reported wide distribution of S. tetraceros was a result of a study by ten Hove (1970) which lumped 22 nominal Spirobranchus taxa world-wide under the oldest available name. Later the original species from Australis was regarded to be part of a complex of species by Frank & ten Hove (1992), Fiege & ten Hove (1999: 362), ten Hove & Kupriyanova (2009), and split into a number of taxa by Pillai (2009). Recently DNA sequence data of Palero et al. (2020) confirmed the status of the nominal S. tetraceros. Kupriyanova et al. (2023) designated the neotype of Spirobranchus tetraceros from NSW supported by DNA sequence data and demonstrated that several species of the S. tetraceros complex are found in Australia alone. [details]
From regional or thematic species database
Introduced species vector dispersal in Lebanese part of the Mediterranean Sea - Eastern Basin : Shipping [details]
| Language | Name | |
|---|---|---|
| English | four-tooth tubeworm | [details] |
| German | Vierzahn-Röhrenwurm | [details] |
| Japanese | ムツエダカンサシゴカイ | [details] |
To Biodiversity Heritage Library (3 publications)
To Biological Information System for Marine Life (BISMaL)
To European Nucleotide Archive, ENA (Spirobranchus tetraceros)
To GenBank (28 nucleotides; 15 proteins)
To NHMUK collection (Spirobranchus tetraceros (Schmarda, 1861); NHMUK:ecatalogue:3661945)
To PESI
To USNM Invertebrate Zoology Annelida Collection (3 records)
To Biological Information System for Marine Life (BISMaL)
To European Nucleotide Archive, ENA (Spirobranchus tetraceros)
To GenBank (28 nucleotides; 15 proteins)
To NHMUK collection (Spirobranchus tetraceros (Schmarda, 1861); NHMUK:ecatalogue:3661945)
To PESI
To USNM Invertebrate Zoology Annelida Collection (3 records)
Unreviewed
Hosted externally
