Our confidence in the state of polychaete taxonomy in southern Africa is unfounded: Setting taxonomic priorities for polychaete worms in the region

Polychaetes (marine annelids) occupy nearly all marine habitats from the intertidal and estuaries to the deep sea, and many occupy extreme habitats such as heated hydrothermal vents and whale carcasses.  It is therefore not surprising that this is a very diverse group, with more than 11,500 species described to date. These worms are super abundant and can contribute to more than 60% of the species, and more than 70% of the animals, in benthic samples. Consequently, polychaetes fulfil many important ecological roles….. – Read the full article here

A Day for Worms on BHL

The Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL) is replete with publications which have had a seminal influence on their field. A highly-credentialed member of this category is John H. Day’s A Monograph on the Polychaeta of Southern Africa, published in 1967 in two volumes by the (then) British Museum (Natural History) in London.

It is timely to celebrate this book now: on 25 August 2019 the author John Day would have had his 110^th birthday. And, as of this month, the author’s own copy of the book has been digitised for the BHL. – Read more here 

 The wonderful world of worms.

Simon, C.A (2014) The wonderful world of worms. Quest. 10(3): 32-34.

When I tell people that I work on polychaete worms, I usually get one of two responses. The less polite people laugh like drains as they can’t imagine why anyone would want to work on worms. The more polite will say ‘Oh, that’s interesting’, and sometimes they actually mean it. The truth is that polychaete worms are interesting. They are mostly marine or estuarine segmented worms with many bristles or chaetae, separating them from their relatives the oligochaetes (earthworms) and hirudinea (leeches), which are mainly terrestrial or freshwater species which have a few chaetae and a clitellum. – Read more here 

Invasive Polychaete Identifier

Radashevsky, V.I., Simon, C. & Sato-Okoshi, W. (2013) Family Spionidae. In: Kupriyanova, E.K., Wong, E., Hutchings, P.A. (eds) Invasive Polychaete Identifier. Version 1.1, 02 December 2013. http://polychaete.australianmuseum.net.au/

What are Invasive Polychaetes?
Polychaetes are primarily marine segmented worms found at all depths ranging from the supratidal down to the deepest oceanic treaches. While many polychaetes crawl in or amonst the sediments, others are mainly or completely sedentary and live in mucous, muddy, or calcareous tubes. – Read more here 

A checklist of the Spionidae (Annelida: Polychaeta) of Southern Africa

Simon, C. A. (2011) A checklist of the Spionidae (Annelida: Polychaeta) of Southern Africa, including South Africa, Namibia, Mozambique and Madagascar.

A checklist of the Spionidae in Southern Africa, i.e., South Africa, Namibia, Mozambique and Madagascar, was complied using mainly published records of species’ descriptions. Distribution records were augmented by species listings in ecological studies conducted in the country. Forty-four species, in 17 genera, have been identified to species level. Of these, only 10 are considered endemic to the region. Five records (four genera) remain unconfirmed owing to lack of representative specimens or descriptions. – Download the pdf here 

The World Polychaeta Database

This World Database of all species of Polychaeta ever described, is part of the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS), a global initiative to provide a register of all marine organism names. – Click here to go to the World Polychaeta Database.