Manayunkia speciosa Leidy — a fresh-water polychaete found in Northern Alaska

✍ Scribed by Charlotte Holmquist

• Book ID: 104656905
• Publisher: Springer
• Year: 1967
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 444 KB
• Volume: 29
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1573-5141
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00189901

✦ Synopsis

In 1858 LEIDY made a brief report to the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, U.S.A., on a polychaete worm obtained from the Schuylkill River at Fairmount. He named it Manayunkia speciosa and described it thoroughly in 1883. By that time it had been found in another river in New Jersey. Only two more localities, Duluth Harbor at the western end of Lake Superior and east of Put--in-Bay in Lake Erie, have been reported for this worm since then. I agree with PETTIBONE (1953, p. 153) in her opinion that the species is probably rather widely distributed but escapes notice due to its small size. This almost happened, in fact, in connection with my investigations of some forty Alaskan lakes in the summers of 1961, 1963 and 1964. Unfortunately, I did not notice the worms when they were still alive, i.e. when the fresh samples were sorted. Considering the sampling conditions, I would say that it was mere chance that any specimens were secured at all. They were found later in the small residue of bottom material that had been put into alcohol.