A new species of polychaete from the Andaman Islands, North Indian Ocean

Armandia sampadae

Phylum: Annelida

Class: Polychaeta Grube, 1850

Subclass: Sedentaria Lamarck, 1818

Infraclass: Scolecida Rouse & Fauchald, 1997

Family: Opheliidae Malmgren, 1867

Armandia sampadae Gopal et al., 2016

Collection: Andaman & Nicobar Islands – Off Rutland Island, 11°28.038’ N 92°43.268’ E, 57 m;  Off North Andaman, 13°31.121′N 92°46.751′E, 52 m (FORVSS 292)

Voucher No.: CMLRE IO/SS/POL/0467, CMLRE/IO/SS/POL/0468 (FORV Referral Centre, CMLRE, Kochi)

Description: The major character which distinguishes this species from other members of the genus Armandia is the presence of a pair of large, flattened, rounded, stalked, pigmented, leaf-shaped ventral papillae at the ventral base of the ringed anal funnel and the occurrence of a pair of sub-triangular black pigmented spots in the basal portion of the ventral papillae.

Biological association: None

Remarks: The species is named for the research vessel FORV Sagar Sampada, which has been the backbone of marine biological research in India since 1984.

Distribution: Indian Ocean, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, insular margin of Andaman Islands (known only from type locality).

Distribution map:

Map of northern Indian Ocean showing area of collection of Armandia sampadae

Identified by: Aiswarya Gopal

Publication: Aiswarya Gopal, Abdul Jaleel KU, Usha V Parameswaran, Anilkumar Vijayan (2016) Armandia sampadae, a new species of polychaete (Opheliidae) from Andaman Sea, Northern Indian Ocean. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 96(8): 1625-1632

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