Aglaophamus

Diagnosis. Antennae and palps present. Pharynx with variable number of subterminal papillae in 14 – 22 longitudinal rows, elongate subdistal middorsal papillae present or absent, proximal region of pharynx smooth or with verrucae. Branchiae present, involute or recurved. Lyrate chaetae present or absent. Barred chaetae present. Acicular lobes acutely pointed, aciculae curved at tip.

Remarks. The presence of verrucae is noted for some Aglaophamus species, including A. australiensis (Fauchald, 1965) recently transferred by Ravara et al. (2010 a), and the species reported herein. Also included in the emended diagnosis is the presence of an elongate subdistal pharyngeal papilla in some Aglaophamus species, erroneously stated as absent for the genus in the diagnosis given by Ravara et al. (2010 b) (Ravara, pers. comm.). Currently, the only diagnostic differences between the genera Aglaophamus and Nephtys are the shape of the acicular lobe — acutely pointed in the former, and conical, rounded or bilobed in the latter — and the absence of lyrate chaetae in Nephtys, though they may be present or absent in Aglaophamus. The recent inclusion of presence of lyrate chaetae in the generic diagnosis for Nephtys by Dixon-Bridges et al. (2014), is an error (Hutchings, pers. obs., see also Remarks under Nephtys generic diagnosis herein), and thus the presence of lyrate chaetae also distinguishes Aglaophamus spp. from Nephtys spp.