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Aphroditidae
Natural History
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Aphroditids are typically large and highly conspicuous members of the benthic fauna, but do not occur in dense populations. These slow-moving scaleworms are commonly called ‘sea mice’ because of a felt-like dorsal surface that is formed by fine silky chaetae with entrapped detritus which give it a furry appearance. They are predominantly subtidal, with most species occurring in deep water. Unfortunately, the Australian deep water fauna is not well known. Although many aphroditid species have overlapping geographical distributions, we have virtually no information on the information on the habitats in which these species occur (although some species have sand or mud entangled amongst their chaetae, perhaps indicating habitat preferences).
Species are slow moving and most species are subtidal and some occur in deep water.
Diversity
The Australian aphroditid fauna comprises 18 species, representing 5 genera (Hutchings & McRae, 1993). Two more genera are known (and are included in the interactive key), but these are not known to occur in Australia. The principal areas surveyed are Bass Strait and Port Phillip Bay (material held in Museum Victoria, Melbourne) and Jervis and Botany Bays (material held in Australian Museum, Sydney). Many taxa undoubtedly remain to be described from Australian waters, especially beyond the soft sediment communities of southeastern Australia which have generated much of the material covered here.
A recent revision of the genus Palmyra by Watson Russell (1989) has placed this genus in the family Aphroditidae. It was considered to be a member of Chrysopetalidae by Day (1967) and subsequently, Fauchald (1977) referred to it as belonging to the family Palmyridae.
Description | Identification
tips | Natural History | Diversity
| Checklist | References
| Interactive Key
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