''Pareulagisca'' is a genus of marine

annelids The annelids (), also known as the segmented worms, are animals that comprise the phylum Annelida (; ). The phylum contains over 22,000 extant species, including ragworms, earthworms, and leeches. The species exist in and have adapted to vario ...

in the family

Polynoidae Polynoidae is a family (biology), family of marine Polychaete worms known as "scale worms" due to the scale-like elytron (Annelida), elytra on the dorsal surface. Almost 900 species are currently recognised belonging to 9 subfamilies and 167 gen ...

(scale worms). The genus contains a single species, ''Pareulagisca panamensis'', known from a single specimen, collected intertidally in

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

in the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

.Pettibone, Marian H. 1997. Revision of the scaleworm genus Eulagisca McIntosh (Polychaeta: Polynoidae) with the erection of the subfamily Eulagiscinae and the new genus Pareulagisca. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington, 110(4): 537–551.

Description

''Pareulagisca'' is characterised by having 16 pairs of

elytra An elytron (; ; : elytra, ) is a modified, hardened forewing of beetles (Coleoptera), though a few of the true bugs (Hemiptera) such as the family Schizopteridae are extremely similar; in true bugs, the forewings are called hemelytra (sometime ...

and about 37 segments. The lateral antennae are undivided and inserted terminally on the

prostomium The prostomium (From Ancient Greek, meaning "before the mouth"; : prostomia; sometimes also called the "acron") is the Cephalization, cephalized first body segment in an annelid worm's body at the anterior end. It is in front of (but does not in ...

. There is a distinctive dorsal fold ("nuchal flap" in the taxonomic literature) on segment 2. Unlike the related genus '' Eulagisca'', ''Pareulagisca'' has long slender

notochaetae A chaeta or cheta (; ) is a chitinous bristle or seta found on annelid worms, although the term is also frequently used to describe similar structures in other invertebrates such as arthropods. Polychaete annelids (''polychaeta'' literally mean ...

with fine tapering tips in addition to stout notochaetae with blunt tips.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q61608884 Phyllodocida Polychaete genera