''Disconatis contubernalis'' is only known from
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
where it is
commensal in the tubes of marine
annelids of the family
Maldanidae
Maldanidae is a family of more than 200 species of Marine life, marine polychaetes commonly known as bamboo worms or maldanid worms. They belong to the order Capitellida, in the phylum Annelida. They are most closely related to family Arenicolidae ...
.
[Hanley, J. Russell and Burke, Melanie 1988. A new genus and species of commensal scaleworm (Polychaeta: Polynoidae). The Beagle, Records of the Northern Territory Museum of Arts and Sciences, 5(1): 5–15.]
Description
''Disconatis contubernalis'' has up to 152 segments and 22–80 pairs of
elytra; the first pair are much larger than the following elytra which have a few large papillae on the surface. ''Disconatis conturbernalis'' which has large papillae on the elytra but a smooth body, in contrast with the other species in the genus, ''
Disconatis accolus'', which has smooth elytra but with minute papillae on the dorsal surface of the body. The lateral antennae are inserted ventral to the median antenna.
Notopodia are vestigial and
notochaetae are absent, while the
neuropodium is rounded and the
neurochaetae are unidentate but have serrations on the convex side.
Biology and Ecology
''Disconatis contubernalis'' has a
commensal relationship with annelid worms in the
Maldanidae
Maldanidae is a family of more than 200 species of Marine life, marine polychaetes commonly known as bamboo worms or maldanid worms. They belong to the order Capitellida, in the phylum Annelida. They are most closely related to family Arenicolidae ...
family, where ''D. contubernalis'' lives inside the tubes they create.
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q2200737
Phyllodocida