“Lepidogyra alba, new species
(Plate 8, Figs. D-H)
Records: 11:7 sta. 268 (2); 14:1 sta. 1009 (1, TYPE).
Description: Only fragments are available; length of 22 anterior segments is 12 mm and width is 5.6 mm at greatest. The prostomium is slightly longer than wide (Fig. D), has four small eyespots in trapezoidal arrangement; the anterior pair is at the midlength and sides, and the posterior eyes are near the posterior margin of the lobe. The median antenna is inserted on a thick, clavate base in a cleft between the prostomial lobes; the style is lost. Paired antennae are much smaller, each not much longer than the prostomium. Palpal bases are smooth and thick.
The first elytra are suboval in outline, have entire margins and a smooth, exposed surface. Parapodia (Fig. E) are biramous, with the notopodium well separated from the neuropodium; each terminates distally in a long, slender acicular lobe through which the aciculum penetrates. Notosetae are thicker than neurosetae, number 30 to 40 in a full, spreading fascicle at segment 15, or only 15 to 18 in more posterior parapodia. Dorsal cirri are elongated far beyond the distal ends of setae at segment 22; their styles are smooth. Neuropodia are oblique, longest at the superior edge, and the acicular lobe is extended a short distance at the emergence of the aciculum. The ventral cirrus is thick basally, diffused red and glandular; its tip is pale and tapering. Neurosetae occur in spreading linear series, number 18 to 25 in a ramus, and the longest are near the acicular emergence. Each is marginally toothed (Fig. H) and distally bifid, with the larger tooth falcate and widely separated from the lesser tooth by a few small teeth in the crotch (Figs. F, G), resembling those characteristic of Gorekia crassicirris (Willey).
Lepidogyra alba is allied to the Lepidonotinae because of the prostomial antennae which are continuous with the prostomial lobe. It is harmothoid in the conspicuous development of notopodia with thick, acicular setae, and neuropodia with distally bifid setae. The glandular character of the ventral cirrus is an aberrant feature, which can be compared only with the unusual development of a fimbriated ventral cirrusin Lepidofimbria (see above). These unique lepidonotids have been recovered only from great depths of the Weddell Sea and South Shetland Island areas.
Distribution: Weddell Sea, in 2812-2846 m; off South Shetland Islands, in 2763-2818 m.”
(Hartman, 1967)
