Meeting Abstract

P2-120  Tuesday, Jan. 5 15:30  A new genus and species of Eulepethidae Chamberlin, 1919 (Annelida: Polychaeta) from deep water sites off South Oahu and Hilo, Hawaii. BARRETT, B.M.*; NEUBERT, P.L.; FALATKO, D.; OTA, A.; EcoAnalysts, Inc.; Stantec; Eastern Research Group, Inc.; U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 9, Water Division cbarrett@ecoanalysts.com

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 9 (EPA) is responsible for the management of five Ocean Dredged Material Disposal Sites located off the south coast of Oʻahu and off Hilo, Hawaiʻi. The biological characterization of the sites in 2013 included benthic infaunal analyses of macroinvertebrate organisms, which recorded the first occurrence of the Family Eulepethidae (Polychaeta) from Hawaiian waters. This family of scale worms currently has 26 recognized taxa in six genera distributed throughout tropical waters worldwide with the majority of taxa described from the western Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico. A description of the new species is presented in addition to a generic review of elytral morphology that supports the erection of a new eulepethid genus.