Alitta undetermined
Year: 2026
Type: other
Abstract: Alitta sp. Fig. 2 Material examined. MZB.Pol.00298 (1 specimen), collected by Joko Pamungkas on 24 November 2017 from Warmar Island: Wangel Village, Aru Islands District, Aru Islands Regency, Maluku Province (5°45'05.1"S, 134°11'43.2"E). Diagnosis. Single specimen complete, ~ 27 mm long by nearly 2 mm wide at widest part, widening around mid-body, then gradually tapering posteriorly. Body color in alcohol whitish without pigmentation. Prostomium roughly pentagonal with entire anterior margin. Four roughly circular black eyes present with anterior and posterior eyes arranged in an almost longitudinal row. Antennae conical. Palps biarticulated with massive subconical palpophores having a single transverse groove, and subconical to oval palpostyles. Tentacular belt length greater than that of chaetiger 1. Four pairs of smooth peristomial cirri with distinct cirrophores present; longest cirri reaching chaetiger 2. Paragnaths present on both rings and arranged as follows. Area I = 1; Area II = 8; Area III = 6 in a single row; Area IV = 12; Area V = 0; Area VI = 4–7 in a roughly circular group; Area VII = 5 in a single row; Area VIII = 2 in a single row. Dorsal notopodial ligules markedly broader in posterior chaetigers. Notochaetae without sesquigomph spinigers. Distribution and habitat. The species was obtained from Maluku, Indonesia, inhabiting intertidal rocky shore. Remarks. To date, there are nine Alitta species described worldwide (WoRMS Editorial Board 2026), and only one of them was reported to occur in Indonesia, i. e., Alitta succinea (Leuckart, 1847) – see Pflugfelder (1933) and Pamungkas and Glasby (2019). Our specimen fits the minimal generic diagnosis of Wilson et al. (2023), i. e., ‘ Dorsal notopodial ligule markedly broader on posterior chaetigers; palpophore massive subconical, flattened (palpostyle is minute by comparison); ventral peristomial flap absent; notochaetae sesquigomph spinigers absent’. Additional collections to obtain more specimens, as well as further identification, are required to confirm the identity of this species. This is the first Alitta in the collection of MZB.
Language: English
Subfield: Oceanography
Field: Earth and Planetary Sciences
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7225419574