Paranais
Paranais Czerniavsky, 1880 (ref. ID; 1257, 6972) or Cerniavsky, 1880 emend. Sperber, 1948 (ref. ID; 3692)
Order Haplotaxida: Family Naididae (ref. ID; 5939)
Family Naididae (ref. ID; 5876, 6554, 7854)
Family Naididae: Subfamily Paranaidinae Sperber, 1948 (ref. ID; 1257)
ref. ID; 1663
All dorsal setae aciculate. Capilliform setae lacking. Segment III not elongated. Dorsal and ventral setae both bifurcate at the tips. Several species in fresh and brackish waters. Uncommon. (ref. ID; 1663)
ref. ID; 1923
Septa well developed; ventral setae "crotchet", with a swelling, the nodulus; without ventral hair setae. Penis lacking, gonads in some segments between 4 and 8; spermathecae in the same segments as the testes; lateral commisural blood vessels only in the anterior body segments. Setae of all dorsal bundles crotchet, begin in segment 5. (ref. ID; 1923)
- Paranais birsteini Sokol'skaja, 1971 (ref. ID; 6651) or Sokol'skaya, 1971 (ref. ID; 6972)
- Paranais birsteini magrhebensis (ref. ID; 6609)
- Paranais frici Hrabe, 1941 (ref. ID; 3692, 5939, 6972, 7854) reported author and year? (ref. ID; 6451)
Syn; Paranais mobilis Liang, 1958 (ref. ID; 6972)
- Paranais litoralis (O.F. Muller, 1784) (ref. ID; 1257, 1923, 1928, 3692, 5939, 7854), cf. litoralis (Muller, 1784) (ref. ID; 6972)
- Paranais macrochaeta Cernosvitov, 1939 (ref. ID; 6554)
- Paranais mobilis Liang, 1958 (ref. ID; 5939)
See; Paranais frici (ref. ID; 6972)
- Paranais salina (ref. ID; 6554)
- Paranais simplex Hrabe, 1936 (ref. ID; 3692)
Paranais frici Hrabe, 1941 (ref. ID; 3692, 5939, 6972, 7854) reported author and year? (ref. ID; 6451)
Synonym
Paranais mobilis Liang, 1958 (ref. ID; 6972)
Descriptions
Prostomium blunt. No eyes. Body wall encrusted in foreign matter. Dorsal setae from V, bifid, with the upper tooth at least twice as long as lower, two per bundle. Ventral setae of II three to four (or seven to eight in mature worms), long, with elongate upper teeth. Those of III on, two to three per bundle, shorter, but also with long upper teeth. Penial setae four to five per bundle, thin distal ends strongly recurved, bifid. (ref. ID; 5939)
Body wall with some foregin matter adhering (or a complex of body wall, mucus, bacteria, and particles?). Ventral chaetae of II in a lateral position, pointing forward, 4 per bundle, upper teeth longer and thinner than lower. All other chaetae 2 per bundle, still with upper teeth larger than lower. Penial chaetae in VI, 2 per bundle, nodulus distal, but bifid with teeth shorter than in other chaetae. Clitellum from IV to VI. (ref. ID; 6972)
Remarks
The encrustation resembles that described by Hrabe (1941) and in Paranais mobilis Liang, 1958, a Chinese species transferred to Wapsa in Brinkhurst and Jamieson (1971) because it possesses nephridia without funnels (as in Wapsa) rather than lackng nephridia (as in Paranais). Specimens described earlier as P. frici by Brinkhurst and Simmons (1968) from San Francisco Bay are also encrusted. The distinction between Wapsa and Paranais is rather narrow in contrast with other generic separations. (ref. ID; 5939)
Paranais mobilis was originally described as close to but separate from P. frici by Liang (1958), but later (Liang 1987) accepted as a synonym. These specimens appear identical to material of P. frici from North America. Two specimens are immature. A specimen (unmated) in the Liang collection and thin spermathecal walls, and otherwise seemed like P. frici. (ref. ID; 6972)
Material examined
3 specimens, Zhujiang River, Huang-zhu-qi, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province 1985. Qi Sang collection. 1 specimen, Liang Yanling collection, ?Yangtze River. (ref. ID; 6972)
Paranais litoralis (O.F. Muller, 1784) (ref. ID; 1257, 1923, 1928, 3692, 5939, 7854), cf. litoralis (Muller, 1784) (ref. ID; 6972)
Descriptions
Chaetae of II lateral, projecting forwards, 5 or 6 per bundle, with upper teeth longer than lower, other chaetae 3 or 4, falling to 2 per bundle, teeth about equally long, upper thinner than lower. (ref. ID; 6972)
Remarks
Paranais litoralis was reported from Hong Kong by Erseus (1990), but only immature specimens were found by him in the area around Qingdao also sampled by R.O. Brinkhurst. While these cannot be identified for certain, they are probably attributable to P. litoralis. Paranais birsteini Sokol'skaya, 1971 was limited to Kamchatka, USSR, and the Pacific coast of Canada and the United States (Washington State), until Martinez-Ansemil and Giani (1987) reported a subspecies of P. birsteini from North America. (ref. ID; 6972)
Material examined
Several specimens, Qingdao Pier, Shandong Province, 13 April 1987. R.O. Brinkhurst collection. (ref. ID; 6972)
Descriptions
Cutaneous glands present. Ventral chaetae of II, 7-9 per bundle, longer, straighter, and thicker than the rest (94-95 µm), displaced laterally, with distal nodules, and upper teeth much longer than the lower. In other ventral bundles up to 4 similar chaetae (71-77 µm), dorsals from V of similar form (75-77 µm). (ref. ID; 6554)
Remarks
The few fragmented specimens available for study in North America are identified with some hesitation. Cernosvitov (1939) described similar chaetae in the type material but found up to 5 chaetae posteriorly and noted that segments I-III were narrower than the rest, a characteristic not observed in this material. The large number of chaetae appears to be dianostic. Recent studies of Paranais by Brinkhurst and Coates (1985) showed that the reproductive structures may differ in species that have similar patterns of chaetae. They noted that the lateral position of the ventral chaetae in II is a generic character, not limited to the Lake Titicaca species P. macrochaeta and P. salina as suggested by Cernosvitov (1939) and Sokolskaya (1971). Martinez-Ansemil and Giani (1986) redescribed P. salina from the Bolivian side of the Titicaca Basin but made no reference to P. macrochaeta. They did find mature specimens of P. salina. (ref. ID; 6554)
New record
Argentina: Mascardi Lake, Rio Negro Province, 1968-1969, coll. I.E. de Drago, D.H. Di Persia, many specimens, 8 examined. (ref. ID; 6554)