Polychaeta taxon details
original description
Knox, George A. (1951). The polychaetous annelids of Banks Peninsula. Part I. Nereidae. <em>Records of the Canterbury Museum.</em> 5(5): 213-229. page(s): 225-227, plate L figs. 41-46 [details] Available for editors [request]
additional source
Glasby, Christopher J.; Read, Geoffrey B.; Lee, Kenneth E.; Blakemore, R.J.; Fraser, P.M.; Pinder, A.M.; Erséus, C.; Moser, W.E.; Burreson, E.M.; Govedich, F.R.; Davies, R.W.; Dawson, E.W. (2009). Phylum Annelida: bristleworms, earthworms, leeches. <em>[Book chapter].</em> Chapt 17, pp. 312-358. in: Gordon, D.P. (Ed.) (2009). New Zealand inventory of biodiversity: 1. Kingdom Animalia: Radiata, Lophotrochozoa, Deuterostomia. Canterbury University Press, Christchurch. [details] Available for editors [request]
redescription
Pettibone, Marian H. (1971). Revision of some species referred to <i>Leptonereis</i>, <i>Nicon</i>, and <i>Laeonereis</i> (Polychaeta: Nereididae). <em>Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology.</em> 104: 1-53., available online at http://si-pddr.si.edu/dspace/handle/10088/5689 page(s): 11-13, figs. 3-4 [details] Available for editors [request]
Holotype CMNZ, geounit Heathcote and Avon Estuary [details]
Nontype USNM 43475, geounit Heathcote and Avon Estuary [details]
From editor or global species database
Biology From Pettibone (1971: 13): ''It appears to have a two-year life cycle. At sexual maturity it forms heteronereids and undergoes a typical swarming periodicity, spawning at the surface. The spent adults die after spawning. The eggs are moderate in size (about 150µ) and demersal, developing into ciliated larvae. Early development presumably takes place in the surface layers of the mud, the larvae being absent from the plankton. Small specimens were found near the surface of the sediment, with large specimens occupying burrows as deep as 40 centimeters.'' [details]
Depth range Intertidal to shallow water, in estuaries. [details]
Distribution Pacific Ocean: New Zealand (estuaries). [details]
Etymology Not stated. The specific epithet aestuariensis refers to the habitat of the species, living in estuaries and originally described from Heathcote Estuary (New Zealand). [details]
Habitat Burrowing in intertidal mud in estuaries, with salinity of water above sediment ranging between 0.0-27.0‰, and salinity of water within the sand ranging from 33.5‰ (high tide level) to 0.0‰ (low tide level). [details]
New combination The species appears under the new combination Nereis aestuarensis [sic] in Fauchald et al. (2009: 771). However, no justification was provided for the new combination, and the species is maintained here under the genus Nicon, based on the redescription by Pettibone (1971). [details]
Reproduction Epitokous specimens collected in March, 1950, in the Heathcote Estuary (New Zealand): ''The eyes were much enlarged and the body divided into three regions, an anterior unmodified region of about 20 segments, a middle region of variable length with natatory setae and a posterior unmodified region of 20-30 segments'' (Knox, 1951: 226). [details]
Type locality Near Heathcote Bridge, upper region of Heathcote Estuary, Banks Peninsula, South Island, New Zealand (gazetteer estimate -43.558, 172.709), intertidal, in mud, salinity of water ranging between 0.0-27.0‰, salinity of water within the sand from 33.5‰ (high tide level) to 0.0‰ (low tide level). [details]
From editor or global species database
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