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Flabelligeridae
Natural History
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Flabelligerids are commonly referred to as "bristle-cage worms" because of the characteristic cage of long chaetae surrounding the head region. The body is generally fusiform with some species covered in silt and sand which adhere to a matrix of mucus secreted by papillae.
Some genera may form tubes, others crawl over the surface, while others may live in U-shaped burrows. Flabelligerids are found in all types of substrates ranging from clay and mud to crevices of shell masses and rocks, and from the intertidal zone to abyssal depths. Those living in relatively unprotected habitats (such as sandy substrates) seem to have a more highly developed cephalic cage than others, probably as a result of protection of the delicate branchiae when exposed.
Diversity
Initially the flabelligerids were regarded as part of the Terebellidae family, but were recognised as a distinct family by Quatrefages (1849) under the name Chloraemidae.
Fifteen genera and over 130 species of flabelligerids are recognised in the world. This database includes the 15 world genera (of which only 6 have thus far been recorded in Australian waters), with 6 described species from Australia and 3 undescribed species provisionally identified from major benthic surveys of soft sediments in southeastern 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.
Description | Identification
tips | Natural History | Diversity
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