Scoletoma tetraura (Schmarda, 1861)

Status
Common, probably indigenous, sometimes used as bait

Description
Up to 310 mm. In life, body golden yellow. Prostomium conical, not eyes or antennae. Maxillary formula: Mx I = 1+1; Mx II = (4 – 5) + (4 – 5); Mx III = 2 + 2; Mx IV = 1+1. Two short broad maxillary supports. No branchiae. Winged capillaries from 1st to ~60th chaetiger, long-headed simple hooks appear ~ 4th chaetiger till end of body. Acicula yellow. Prechaetal lobes shorter than post-chaetal lobes – similar arrangement throughout, but lobes longer in posterior feet.

Ecology
Intertidal, burrows in a variety of substrata including mud, sand, shell gravel, also coralline and algae, in rock pools, in algal holdfasts, and in oyster beds from intertidal zones to considerable depths.

Distribution
South Africa: Western Cape Province, west (Type locality Cape of Good Hope and Chile) and south coast to KwaZulu Natal.
Namibia.

Notes
This species is considered cosmopolitan in temperate and tropical waters. Furthermore, Day (1967) indicates that it has a type locality in both South Africa AND Chile, while there are probably multiple species matching description in South Africa; this needs to be resolved.