Capitella giardi (Mensil, 1897) of family Capitellidae is reported here for the first time from Pakistani waters. So far, the only capitellid worm known to occur in the coastal waters of Pakistan was Capitella capitata (Fabricius, 1780). Capitella giardi closely resembles C. capitata in having nine thoracic chaetigers of which first six chaetigers bear capillary chaetae only. However, the former differs from the later (1) in having noto-capillaries and neuro-hooks in 7th segment and (2) in lacking capillary chaetae in the 8th and 9th thoracic segments. C. giardi also resembles C. teleta Blake, Grassle and Eckelbarger, 2009, but differs in the chaetal characters of the 7th thoracic segment. In C. teleta 7th segment has noto- and neuro-capillaries, whereas in C. giardi 7th segment has noto-capillaries and neuro-hooks. |
