WoRMS taxon details

Ampharete Malmgren, 1866

129155  (urn:lsid:marinespecies.org:taxname:129155)

  1. Biota
  2. Animalia (Kingdom)
  3. Annelida (Phylum)
  4. Polychaeta (Class)
  5. Sedentaria (Subclass)
  6. Canalipalpata (Infraclass)
  7. Terebellida (Order)
  8. Terebelliformia (Suborder)
  9. Ampharetidae (Family)
  10. Ampharetinae (Subfamily)
  11. Ampharetini (Tribe)
  12. Ampharete (Genus)
accepted
Genus
Ampharete grubei Malmgren, 1865 (type by subsequent designation)
Asabellides Annenkova, 1929 · unaccepted (subjective synonym)
Branchiosabella Claparède, 1863 · unaccepted (subjective synonym)
Heterobranchus Wagner, 1885 · unaccepted (subjective synonym)
Parampharete Hartman, 1978 · unaccepted > junior subjective synonym (subjective synonym)
Pseudosabellides Berkeley & Berkeley, 1943 · unaccepted (subjective synonym)
Pterampharete Augener, 1918 · unaccepted (subjective synonym)
Sabellides Milne Edwards in Lamarck, 1838 · unaccepted (subjective synonym)

Ordering

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Children Display

  1. Species Ampharete acutifrons (Grube, 1860)
  2. Species Ampharete agulhasensis (Day, 1961)
  3. Species Ampharete americana Day, 1973
  4. Species Ampharete ampullata Imajima, Reuscher & Fiege, 2012
  5. Species Ampharete baltica Eliason, 1955
  6. Species Ampharete borealis (M. Sars, 1856)
  7. Species Ampharete britayevi Jirkov, 2023
  8. Species Ampharete californica (Hilbig, 2000)
  9. Species Ampharete capensis (Day, 1961)
  10. Species Ampharete cinnamomea Imajima, Reuscher & Fiege, 2012
  11. Species Ampharete cirrata Webster & Benedict, 1887
  12. Species Ampharete cornuta (Hilbig, 2000)
  13. Species Ampharete crassiseta Annenkova, 1929
  14. Species Ampharete eupalea Chamberlin, 1920
  15. Species Ampharete falcata Eliason, 1955
  16. Species Ampharete finmarchica (M. Sars, 1865)
  17. Species Ampharete goesi Malmgren, 1866
  18. Species Ampharete grubei Malmgren, 1865
  19. Species Ampharete intermedia (Marion, 1876)
  20. Species Ampharete johanseni Chamberlin, 1920
  21. Species Ampharete kerguelensis McIntosh, 1885
  22. Species Ampharete kudenovi Jirkov, 1994
  23. Species Ampharete labrops Hartman, 1961
  24. Species Ampharete lindstroemi Hessle, 1917
  25. Species Ampharete lineata (Berkeley & Berkeley, 1943)
  26. Species Ampharete longipaleolata Uschakov, 1950
  27. Species Ampharete luederitzi (Augener, 1918)
  28. Species Ampharete macrobranchia Caullery, 1944
  29. Species Ampharete manriquei (Salazar-Vallejo, 1996)
  30. Species Ampharete minuta Langerhans, 1880
  31. Species Ampharete octocirrata (Sars, 1835)
  32. Species Ampharete oculata (Webster, 1879)
  33. Species Ampharete oculicirrata Parapar, Moreira & Barnich, 2019
  34. Species Ampharete parvidentata Day, 1973
  35. Species Ampharete paulayi Chávez-López, 2025
  36. Species Ampharete petersenae Jirkov, 1997
  37. Species Ampharete reducta Chamberlin, 1920
  38. Species Ampharete santillani Parapar, Kongsrud, Kongshavn, Alvestad, Aneiros & Moreira, 2017
  39. Species Ampharete saphronovae Jirkov, 1994
  40. Species Ampharete setosa Verrill, 1873
  41. Species Ampharete sibirica (Wirén, 1883)
  42. Species Ampharete trilobata Webster & Benedict, 1887
  43. Species Ampharete undecima Alvestad, Kongsrud & Kongshavn, 2014
  44. Species Ampharete vega (Wirén, 1883)
  45. Species Ampharete villenai Parapar, Helgason, Jirkov & Moreira, 2012
  46. Species Ampharete weddellia (Hartman, 1978)
  47. Species Ampharete zostericola (Claparède, 1863)
  48. Species Ampharete arctica Malmgren, 1866 accepted as Ampharete finmarchica (M. Sars, 1865) (unaccepted > junior subjective synonym)
  49. Species Ampharete brevibranchiata Treadwell, 1926 accepted as Ampharete arctica Malmgren, 1866 accepted as Ampharete finmarchica (M. Sars, 1865) (subjective synonym)
  50. Species Ampharete debrouweri Jeldes & Lefevre, 1959 accepted as Anobothrus debrouweri (Jeldes & Lefevre, 1959) (unaccepted > superseded combination, superseded original combination)
  51. Species Ampharete elongata (Ehlers, 1913) accepted as Neosabellides elongatus (Ehlers, 1913) (superseded subsequent combination)
  52. Species Ampharete gagarae Uschakov, 1950 accepted as Anobothrus gracilis (Malmgren, 1866) (unaccepted > junior subjective synonym)
  53. Species Ampharete goeesi [auct.] accepted as Ampharete goesi Malmgren, 1866 (lapsus calami)
  54. Species Ampharete gracilis Malmgren, 1866 accepted as Anobothrus gracilis (Malmgren, 1866) (superseded original combination)
  55. Species Ampharete homa Chamberlin, 1919 accepted as Anobothrus homus (Chamberlin, 1919) (unaccepted > superseded combination, superseded original combination)
  56. Species Ampharete kowalewskii Grimm, 1876 accepted as Hypania invalida (Grube, 1860) (subjective synonym)
  57. Species Ampharete patagonica Kinberg, 1866 accepted as Anobothrus patagonicus (Kinberg, 1866) (superseded original combination)
  58. Species Ampharete seribranchiata Treadwell, 1926 accepted as Ampharete eupalea Chamberlin, 1920 (subjective synonym)
  59. Species Ampharete sombreriana McIntosh, 1885 accepted as Anobothrus sombrerianus (McIntosh, 1885) (unaccepted > superseded combination, superseded original combination)
marine, brackish, fresh, terrestrial
recent only
feminine
Malmgren, Anders Johan. (1866? vol for 1865). Nordiska Hafs-Annulater. [part three of three]. <em>Öfversigt af Königlich Vetenskapsakademiens förhandlingar, Stockholm.</em> 22(5): 355-410, plates XVIII-XXIX., available online at https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/32339631
page(s): 362-363; note: created for four new species (in order of presentation): Ampharete grubei, A. goesi, A. arctica, A gracilis [details] 
Note The type species of Ampharete is Ampharete...  
From editor or global species database
Type species The type species of Ampharete is Ampharete grubei Malmgren (via Code Article 69.2.2), and Ampharete acutifrons (Grube) is NOT the type species, contrary to the listing in the Hartman (1959) catalogue. The choice of type species is not clear cut, as it must be determined by subsequent designation from those nominal species first included by Malmgren. In 1865 (possibly published 1866) Malmgren included four new species (in order of presentation: Ampharete grubei, A. goesi, A. arctica, A gracilis) in the new genus Ampharete, but the first listed is Ampharete grubei, which he considered as similar to, but distinct from Amphicteis acutifrons Grube 1860, a species which Malmgren did not include recombined as one of the other Ampharete species (although he should have, given his almost synonymy of his new species A. grubei, to A. acutifrons). After some decades Hessle (1917) placed Ampharete grubei as a synonym of Ampharete acutifrons (original combination Amphicteis acutifrons), but he does not indicate a type species for Ampharete. Hartman (1959: 482), in what has been treated as the valid subsequent designation, lists the type of Ampharete as Ampharete acutifrons (Grube, 1860) (possibly Hartman was copying a previous designation - according to Chávez-López (2025: 6 of 35) this subsequent designation was earlier in Uschakov (1955). However, this designation is not possible as only an originally included name can be a type species of a genus (current Code Article 69.1 and earlier Codes dating back to 1905)). This is fundamental.
For genus Ampharete Article 69.2.2 decides which of the originally included species is the type species. This article sets the type species to be the originally included species name that is the (junior) synonym of the species name subsequently designated as type, if this originally included species had been at the same time the only species name so synonymized out of the original names included in the genus. Hartman's (1959) checklist makes A. acutifrons senior to three names, but of these only Ampharete grubei was a name originally included by Malmgren. Thus, assuming a prior type designation other than the non-eligible Amphicteis acutifrons does not exist, Ampharete grubei is the type species of Ampharete. It is one of the originally included names, is an available name, and is a valid species, no longer (status fide Krüger et al. 2022) merely a junior synonym name of Ampharete acutifrons. Krüger et al. (2022) (as Ampharete acutifrons) and Chávez-López (2025) retained Amphicteis acutifrons as type species of Ampharete, but this cannot be correct, as explained above. Jirkov (2023) uses Ampharete grubei as type species of Ampharete. Chávez-López state the type-species issue should be resolved by consideration by the ICZN but does not explain why. Correct application of the current Code is sufficient to determine the Ampharete type species [G. Read, August, 2022, modified December 2025 to include usage and statements by Jirkov (2023) & Chávez-López (2025)] [details]
Etymology unstated by Malmgren, but it seems at the time he was using ancient Greek names of women for genera. Ampharete, Samytha,...  
Etymology unstated by Malmgren, but it seems at the time he was using ancient Greek names of women for genera. Ampharete, Samytha, and Melinna are Greek female names. [details]
Read, G.; Fauchald, K. (Ed.) (2026). World Polychaeta Database. Ampharete Malmgren, 1866. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=129155 on 2026-04-13
Date
action
by
2004-12-21 15:54:05Z
created
Bellan, Gérard
2008-03-04 06:49:09Z
changed
Decock, Wim
2008-03-26 11:36:43Z
changed
Fauchald, Kristian
2019-06-20 03:25:43Z
changed
Read, Geoffrey
2020-07-17 03:09:42Z
changed
Read, Geoffrey
2022-08-10 22:25:33Z
changed
Read, Geoffrey
2022-08-11 10:23:00Z
changed
Read, Geoffrey
2023-03-31 01:50:08Z
changed
Gil, João

Creative Commons License The webpage text is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License


Nomenclature

original description Malmgren, Anders Johan. (1866? vol for 1865). Nordiska Hafs-Annulater. [part three of three]. <em>Öfversigt af Königlich Vetenskapsakademiens förhandlingar, Stockholm.</em> 22(5): 355-410, plates XVIII-XXIX., available online at https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/32339631
page(s): 362-363; note: created for four new species (in order of presentation): Ampharete grubei, A. goesi, A. arctica, A gracilis [details] 

original description (of Asabellides Annenkova, 1929) Annenkova, N. (1929). Beiträge zur Kenntnis der Polychaeten-Fauna der USSR. I. Fam. Pectinariidae Quatrefages (Amphictenidae Malmgren) und Ampharetidae Malmgren. <em>Annuaire du Musee Zoologique de l'Académie des Sciences de l'URSS.</em> 30(3): 477-502 + plates XXXVII-XXXIX.
page(s): 494 [details] Available for editors  PDF available [request]

original description (of Sabellides Milne Edwards in Lamarck, 1838) Lamarck, J.-B. de. (1838). Histoire naturelle des Animaux sans vertèbres. 2nd Edition. Volume 5. 1-699 [Annelids & Polychaeta occupies p499 to 639]. J.B. Baillière Librarie. Paris. , available online at http://www.archive.org/details/histoirenaturell051838lama
page(s): 608 [details] 

original description (of Parampharete Hartman, 1978) Hartman, Olga. (1978). Polychaeta from the Weddell Sea quadrant, Antarctica. <em>Antarctic Research Series.</em> 26(4): 125-223., available online at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9781118664599.ch4/summary
page(s): 197 [details] Available for editors  PDF available [request]

original description (of Pterampharete Augener, 1918) Augener, Hermann. (1918). Polychaeta. <em>Beitrage zur Kenntnis der Meeresfauna Westafrikas.</em> 2(2): 67-625, plates II-VII., available online at https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/7172280
page(s): 505 [details] 

original description (of Branchiosabella Claparède, 1863) Claparède, A. R. É. (1863). Beobachtungen über Anatomie und Entwicklungsgeschichte wirbelloser Thiere: an der Küste von Normandie angestellt. [Observations on the anatomy and evolution of invertebrates: made on the coast of Normandy.]. <em>Verlag von Wilhelm Engelmann, Leipzig.</em> 1-120, 18 plates., available online at http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/10030
page(s): 34 [details] OpenAccess publication

original description (of Heterobranchus Wagner, 1885) Wagner, Nicolas. (1885). Die Wirbellosen des Weissen Meeres. Erster Band : zoologische Forschungen an der Küste des Solowetzkischen Meerbusens in den Sommermonaten der Jahre 1877, 1878, 1879 und 1882. <em>Leipzig, W. Engelmann.</em> , available online at https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.65513
page(s): 56; note: name in flow of text, not indicated as new [details] OpenAccess publication

original description (of Pseudosabellides Berkeley & Berkeley, 1943) Berkeley, Edith; Berkeley, Cyril. (1943). Biological and Ocenographical conditions in Hudson Bay. 11. Polychaeta from Hudson Bay. <em>Journal of the Fisheries Research Board of Canada.</em> 6(2): 129-132., available online at https://cdnsciencepub.com/doi/10.1139/f42-016
page(s): 130-131 [details] Available for editors  PDF available [request]

Taxonomy

taxonomy source Hessle, Christian. (1917). Zur Kenntnis der terebellomorphen Polychaeten. <em>Zoologiska bidrag från Uppsala.</em> 5: 39-258, plates I-V., available online at https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/38891407
page(s): 95; note: Ampharete genus diagnosis. Ampharete grubei included as a synonym of A. acutifrons (Grube) [details] OpenAccess publication

Identification resource

identification resource Krüger, Lotte; Dietrich, Anna; Bastrop, Ralf; Bick, Andreas. (2022). From synonym to valid species: Redescriptions of Ampharete acutifrons (Grube, 1860) and A. cirrata Webster & Benedict, 1887, and brief descriptions of A. baltica Eliason, 1955 and A. grubei Malmgren, 1865 (Annelida: Terebellida: Ampharetidae). <em>Zootaxa.</em> 5174(4): 357–380., available online at https://www.mapress.com/zt/article/view/zootaxa.5174.4.3
note: key to all species of Ampharete from the North Atlantic [details] Available for editors  PDF available [request]

Other

additional source Fauchald, K. (1977). The polychaete worms, definitions and keys to the orders, families and genera. <em>Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County: Los Angeles, CA (USA), Science Series.</em> 28:1-188., available online at http://www.vliz.be/imisdocs/publications/123110.pdf [details] 

additional source Bellan, G. (2001). Polychaeta, <i>in</i>: Costello, M.J. <i>et al.</i> (Ed.) (2001). European register of marine species: a check-list of the marine species in Europe and a bibliography of guides to their identification. <em>Collection Patrimoines Naturels.</em> 50: 214-231. (look up in IMIS) [details] 

subsequent type designation Jirkov, Igor A. (2023). Revision of Ampharete (superspecies finmarchica) (Annelida: Ampharetidae). <em>Invertebrate Zoology.</em> 20(1): 1-26., available online at https://kmkjournals.com/journals/Inv_Zool/IZ_Index_Volumes/IZ_20/IZ_20_1_001_026
page(s): 3 of 26; note: Ampharete grubei is stated to be the type species of Ampharete [details] Available for editors  PDF available [request]

subsequent type designation Hartman, Olga. (1959). Catalogue of the Polychaetous Annelids of the World. Parts 1 and 2. <em>Allan Hancock Foundation Occasional Paper.</em> 23: 1-628.
page(s): 482; note: Hartman's checklist has Ampharete acutifrons (Grube, 1860) as type species of Ampharete, and this assignment has subsequently repeatedly been cited as the first subsequent designation. However, this ...    
Hartman's checklist has Ampharete acutifrons (Grube, 1860) as type species of Ampharete, and this assignment has subsequently repeatedly been cited as the first subsequent designation. However, this name is not a candidate for type species as Amphicteis acutifrons was not originally recorded by Malmgren when he created Ampharete.
[details] Available for editors  PDF available [request]

subsequent type designation Uschakov, P.V. (1955). Mnogoshchetinkovye chervi dal'nevostochnykh morei SSSR. [The Polychaeta from the Far-Eastern Seas of the USSR]. <em>Akademiya Nauk Soyuza Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Republik.</em> 56: 1-445.
page(s): 366; note: Ampharete acutifrons (Grube, 1860) as type of Ampharete, with A. grubei Malmgren treated as its synonym.However, this is not possible as Amphicteis acutifrons (later in Ampharete) was not originally r...    
Ampharete acutifrons (Grube, 1860) as type of Ampharete, with A. grubei Malmgren treated as its synonym.However, this is not possible as Amphicteis acutifrons (later in Ampharete) was not originally recorded by Malmgren when he created Ampharete.
[details] 

 
 Present  Inaccurate  Introduced: alien  Containing type locality 
From editor or global species database
Editor's comment The adoption by some of Amphicteis acutifrons as type species of Ampharete (it cannot be the type species - see the explanation under the type species note) may be a result of a number of authors (subsequent to Malmgren's (1866) naming of Ampharete) treating Ampharete grubei as a junior synonym of Ampharete acutifrons (was Amphicteis). Notably Uschakov 1955 and Hartman, 1959 state that Ampharete acutifrons is the type species of Ampharete. This presentation of a senior synonym as type species when in fact the junior synonym is the actual direct type species candidate (included in the genus when the genus was named) is a common treatment in Hartman's catalogue. It's not Code compliant as a species name not included in a new genus cannot be the type of that genus, but is the way Hartman could present a single name as type species, rather than complicating the presentation by stating one name was the type species but was now a synonym of another name. In fact it always must be the junior name which is the type species in these cases. The fact that it is discovered to be a junior synonym is irrelevant. Its status as a type species is unchanged. [details]

Etymology unstated by Malmgren, but it seems at the time he was using ancient Greek names of women for genera. Ampharete, Samytha, and Melinna are Greek female names. [details]

Grammatical gender Feminine, as Ampharete is a Greek female name, and all adjectival names created have been feminine. [details]

Type species The type species of Ampharete is Ampharete grubei Malmgren (via Code Article 69.2.2), and Ampharete acutifrons (Grube) is NOT the type species, contrary to the listing in the Hartman (1959) catalogue. The choice of type species is not clear cut, as it must be determined by subsequent designation from those nominal species first included by Malmgren. In 1865 (possibly published 1866) Malmgren included four new species (in order of presentation: Ampharete grubei, A. goesi, A. arctica, A gracilis) in the new genus Ampharete, but the first listed is Ampharete grubei, which he considered as similar to, but distinct from Amphicteis acutifrons Grube 1860, a species which Malmgren did not include recombined as one of the other Ampharete species (although he should have, given his almost synonymy of his new species A. grubei, to A. acutifrons). After some decades Hessle (1917) placed Ampharete grubei as a synonym of Ampharete acutifrons (original combination Amphicteis acutifrons), but he does not indicate a type species for Ampharete. Hartman (1959: 482), in what has been treated as the valid subsequent designation, lists the type of Ampharete as Ampharete acutifrons (Grube, 1860) (possibly Hartman was copying a previous designation - according to Chávez-López (2025: 6 of 35) this subsequent designation was earlier in Uschakov (1955). However, this designation is not possible as only an originally included name can be a type species of a genus (current Code Article 69.1 and earlier Codes dating back to 1905)). This is fundamental.
For genus Ampharete Article 69.2.2 decides which of the originally included species is the type species. This article sets the type species to be the originally included species name that is the (junior) synonym of the species name subsequently designated as type, if this originally included species had been at the same time the only species name so synonymized out of the original names included in the genus. Hartman's (1959) checklist makes A. acutifrons senior to three names, but of these only Ampharete grubei was a name originally included by Malmgren. Thus, assuming a prior type designation other than the non-eligible Amphicteis acutifrons does not exist, Ampharete grubei is the type species of Ampharete. It is one of the originally included names, is an available name, and is a valid species, no longer (status fide Krüger et al. 2022) merely a junior synonym name of Ampharete acutifrons. Krüger et al. (2022) (as Ampharete acutifrons) and Chávez-López (2025) retained Amphicteis acutifrons as type species of Ampharete, but this cannot be correct, as explained above. Jirkov (2023) uses Ampharete grubei as type species of Ampharete. Chávez-López state the type-species issue should be resolved by consideration by the ICZN but does not explain why. Correct application of the current Code is sufficient to determine the Ampharete type species [G. Read, August, 2022, modified December 2025 to include usage and statements by Jirkov (2023) & Chávez-López (2025)] [details]
    Definitions

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To European Nucleotide Archive, ENA (Ampharete) 
To European Nucleotide Archive, ENA (Asabellides) (from synonym Asabellides Annenkova, 1929)
To European Nucleotide Archive, ENA (Heterobranchus) (from synonym Heterobranchus Wagner, 1885)
To European Nucleotide Archive, ENA (Sabellides) (from synonym Sabellides Milne Edwards in Lamarck, 1838)
To Genbank 
To Genbank (from synonym Sabellides Milne Edwards in Lamarck, 1838)
To Genbank (from synonym Asabellides Annenkova, 1929)
To Macrozoobenthos communities of Svalbard 
To The Arctic Traits Database (19 traits) 
To The Arctic Traits Database (4 traits) (from synonym Sabellides Milne Edwards in Lamarck, 1838)
To ITIS
Unreviewed

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