''Sonatsa'' is a genus of marine, mud-dwelling

polychaete Polychaeta () is a paraphyletic class of generally marine Annelid, annelid worms, common name, commonly called bristle worms or polychaetes (). Each body segment has a pair of fleshy protrusions called parapodia that bear many bristles, called c ...

worms containing the sole species ''Sonatsa meridionalis''. ''S. meridionalis'' was described in 1919 by

Ralph Vary Chamberlin Ralph Vary Chamberlin (January 3, 1879October 31, 1967) was an American biologist, Ethnography, ethnographer, and historian from Salt Lake City, Utah. He was a faculty member of the University of Utah for over 25 years, where he helped establish ...

from a single specimen collected by the research ship USS ''Albatross'' during a 1904–05 survey of the southeast Pacific Ocean. The

type specimen In biology, a type is a particular wikt:en:specimen, specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally associated. In other words, a type is an example that serves to ancho ...

was collected between Peru and the Galapagos Islands, from muddy sediment at a depth of around 4 km. The name ''Sonatsa'' derives from the

Goshute The Goshutes are a tribe of Western Shoshone Native Americans. There are two federally recognized Goshute tribes today: * Confederated Tribes of the Goshute Reservation, located in Nevada and Utah * Skull Valley Band of Goshute Indians of ...

words ''soma,'' meaning "many", and ''natsani'', meaning "hook", while the specific name '' meridionalis'' is Latin for "southern".

References

Taxa described in 1919 Monotypic annelid genera Polychaete genera Polychaetes {{Annelid-stub