Sabellariidae from Lizard Island, Great Barrier Reef, including a new species of Lygdamis and notes on external morphology of the median organ.

We document herein the occurrence of three species of Sabellariidae at Lizard Island, Great Barrier Reef, including a new Lygdamis species. Sabellaria lungalla, described from Northern Territory, is reported for Queensland for the first time. The genus Gesaia, represented by a planktonic larva collected in shallow waters of the Archipelago, is a new record for Australia. Lygdamis nasutus n. sp. is characterised by one of the most conspicuous median organ described in the family (cylindrical, distally pigmented and is provided with a flattened, teardrop corona), its paleae morphology (with straight paleae, outer ones with asymmetrical pointed tips and subtle thecal sculpture and inner paleae with blunt tips and smooth surface), three lateral lobes on chaetiger 2, abdominal chaetigers with two type of neurochaetae, and notopodial uncini with 1-4 longitudinal rows of teeth. Comparison of the external morphology of the medial organ and median ridge of several species has been undertaken. Even though its function remains uncertain, the median organ morphology seems species specific and may provide relevant information about the evolutionary history and adaptations of sabellariids.

NONATObase: a database for Polychaeta (Annelida) from the Southwestern Atlantic Ocean.

Networks can greatly advance data sharing attitudes by providing organized and useful data sets on marine biodiversity in a friendly and shared scientific environment. NONATObase, the interactive database on polychaetes presented herein, will provide new macroecological and taxonomic insights of the Southwestern Atlantic region. The database was developed by the NONATO network, a team of South American researchers, who integrated available information on polychaetes from between 5°N and 80°S in the Atlantic Ocean and near the Antarctic. The guiding principle of the database is to keep free and open access to data based on partnerships. Its architecture consists of a relational database integrated in the MySQL and PHP framework. Its web application allows access to the data from three different directions: species (qualitative data), abundance (quantitative data) and data set (reference data). The database has built-in functionality, such as the filter of data on user-defined taxonomic levels, characteristics of site, sample, sampler, and mesh size used. Considering that there are still many taxonomic issues related to poorly known regional fauna, a scientific committee was created to work out consistent solutions to current misidentifications and equivocal taxonomy status of some species. Expertise from this committee will be incorporated by NONATObase continually. The use of quantitative data was possible by standardization of a sample unit. All data, maps of distribution and references from a data set or a specified query can be visualized and exported to a commonly used data format in statistical analysis or reference manager software. The NONATO network has initialized with NONATObase, a valuable resource for marine ecologists and taxonomists. The database is expected to grow in functionality as it comes in useful, particularly regarding the challenges of dealing with molecular genetic data and tools to assess the effects of global environment change. Database URL: http://nonatobase.ufsc.br/.