Grube, 1850
Description:
Small, active, carnivorous worms found mostly amongst colonial sedentary animals and seaweeds, occasionally in a mucus tube. They typically have long, fingerlike and often annulated dorsal cirri. All possess an eversible pharynx, usually armed with a single piercing tooth or a trepan (circlet of small teeth), connected to the barrel-shaped muscular proventriculus (gizzard), which may be visible through the body wall. The rounded head has usually four large eyes and bears three antennae; a pair of flattened palps may be separate, joined at the base or wholly fused together in the mid-line. Peristomium limited to lips. First segment with one or two pairs of tentacular cirri only.
Parapodia unimous, mostly with only few compound chaetae. Aciculae present. Dorsal cirri always present, ventral cirri absent in Autolytinae.
Chaetae compound and simple.
Pygidium with one pair of cirri (Syllidae).
After: Fauchald and Rouse, 1997 and Hayward and Ryland, 1990.
The following taxa of this family occur in the region:
Genus Amblyosyllis
Subfamily Autolytinae
Genus Autolytus
Genus Brania
Genus Calamyzas
Subfamily Calamyzinae
Subfamily Eurysyllinae
Genus Eurysyllis
Subfamily Eusyllinae
Genus Eusyllis
Genus Exogone
Subfamily Exogoninae
Genus Odontosyllis
Genus Opisthodonta
Genus Pionosyllis
Genus Proceraea
Genus Procerastea
Genus Sphaerosyllis
Genus Streptosyllis
Genus Syllides
Subfamily Syllinae
Genus Syllis
Genus Typosyllis
Amblyosyllis formosa
Autolytus alexandri
Autolytus brachycephalus
Autolytus edwarsi
Autolytus inermis
Autolytus langerhansi
Autolytus longeferiens
Autolytus prolifer
Autolytus quinquedecimdentatus
Autolytus rubrolineatus
Autolytus rubropunctatus
Brania limbata
Brania pusilla
Calamyzas amphictenicola
Eurysyllis tuberculata
Eusyllis assimilis
Eusyllis blomstrandi
Eusyllis lamelligera
Exogone furcifera
Exogone hebes
Exogone naidina
Exogone verugera
Odontosyllis ctenosoma
Odontosyllis fulgurans
Odontosyllis gibba
Opisthodonta pterochaeta
Pionosyllis compacta
Pionosyllis lamelligera
Pionosyllis pulligera
Pionosyllis serrata
Proceraea aurantiaca
Proceraea cornuta
Proceraea picta
Proceraea prismatica
Procerastea halleziana
Procerastea nematodes
Sphaerosyllis bulbosa
Sphaerosyllis erinaceus
Sphaerosyllis hystrix
Sphaerosyllis tetralix
Streptosyllis arenae
Streptosyllis websteri
Syllides articulocirrata
Syllides benedicti
Syllides longocirrata
Syllis gracilis
Typosyllis armillaris
Typosyllis cornuta
Typosyllis hyalina
Typosyllis variegata