Two new bamboo worms: Paramaldane glandicincta and Maldane adunca

Credit: Yueyun Wang

Bamboo worms belong to the family Maldanidae which is part of the bristle worms. Their elongated segments, ending with an appendage give them the appearance of bamboo-shoots, hence their name. These often fragile marine inhabitants can be found in mud-walled tubes in shelf sediments.

The new species were found during re-examination of specimens collected from mud sediment in the offshore waters of Hainan Island (South China Sea) between 1959 to 1962. Both new names refer to specific characteristics of the body of the animals.

For the experts: Paramaldane, new genus, with type species Paramaldane glandicincta sp. n., and Maldane adunca sp. n. (Maldanidae, Polychaeta) are described based on material from the coast of south China. The new genus Paramaldane is similar to Maldane Grube, 1860 and Sabaco Kinberg, 1867, but it clearly differs from all genera within the subfamily Maldaninae by a unique combination of characters: the cephalic plate is almost circular with low, entire and smooth cephalic rim, nuchal grooves small and crescentic, lacking a collar on chaetiger 1, short companion notochaetae, a collar-like glandular band on the anterior part of the sixth chaetiger, and a well-developed anal valve. Paramaldane glandicincta sp. n. is characterised by having a glandular band on the anterior part of the sixth chaetiger, an almost circular cephalic plate, an entire and smooth cephalic rim, and small crescentic nuchal grooves. Maldane adunca sp. n. is characterised by a low cephalic rim, nuchal grooves with a strongly curved anterior part and isolated from the cephalic rim. Finally, a taxonomic key to genera of Maldaninae and a comparative table to species of Maldane are provided.