Snowflakes and feather-dusters - some challenges for soft-bottom fanworm systematics

The present study highlights paraphyly within traditional soft-bottom sabellin fanworm taxa. Two forms of the sabellid radiolar crown are recognised. The 'snowflake' crown style comprises three pairs of radioles only, with few pinnules alternating along the length of the radioles and longest mid-radiole. The 'feather-duster' crown style comprises few to many pairs of radioles, with numerous paired pinnules of relatively even length. Cladistic analyses revealed two new groups, whose respective members were assigned previously to Euchone and Jasmineira. These are pending revision and naming. Phylogenetic nomenclature is proposed as a more informative alternative to traditional Linnean nomenclature.