Zatsepinia rittichae can be up to 8.5 mm long. It can be found along the entire Norwegian coast south to Rogaland at depths between 175 and 350 meters.

Type locality

Norwegian Sea, 71o10'N 17o00'E, 345-357 m.

Key characters

Zatsepinia rittichae partly in its tube.

Measurements: Up to 8.5 mm long.

Number of thoracic chaetigers: 12

Number of thoracic uncinigers: 10

Number of abdominal uncinigers: 17

Prostomium: Without lobes or ridges; with small notch in anterior part; eyespots absent.

Mouth tentacles: Smooth.

Branchiae: Two pairs of branchiae in two widely separated groups; branchiae in transverse row.

Paleae: Absent.

Special features: 11th pair of notopodia slightly elevated and joined by ridge across dorsum.

Pygidium: Without lateral cirri; with numerous papillae.

Tube: Long, thin, made of mud.

Distribution

Entire Norwegian coast south to Rogaland; 175–356 m (Jirkov 2001).

Similar species

The presence of only two pairs of branchiae and 12 thoracic chaetigers makes it unlikely to confuse adult complete specimens of Zatsepinia rittichae with any other Ampharetidae in Norwegian waters.

Sources

Jirkov IA (1986). Zatsepinia rittichae gen. et sp. n. (Polychaeta, Ampharetidae) from the Norwegian and Barents Seas. Zoologicheskii zhurnal 65(2): 289-290.

Jirkov IA (2001). [Polychaeta of the Arctic Ocean] (In Russian). Polikhety severnogo Ledovitogo Okeana. Yanus-K Press. Moscow, 632 pp.

Personal observations, Alvestad T.

Siden siteres som:

Alvestad T og Budaeva N (2020). Zatsepinia rittichae Jirkov, 1986. www.artsdatabanken.no/Pages/299332. Nedlastet <dag/måned/år>