RE, Paraprionospio pinnata

[JAMES BLAKE]

Dear annelid workers, 

Geof Read just wrote, 

>Type locality has no importance in understanding the biogeography of a 
>taxon as long as it is definitely a single species. But if I see a new 
>record of 'cosmopolitan' _Paraprionospio pinnata_ outside type 
>locality Chile I'm going to take some convincing it's genuine. Also, 
>to state the obvious, in the absence of the original specimens, 
>someone goes back to the type locality (and hopes they don't find more 
>than one member of the genus, and that the site is not now 'infilled' 
>dry land).

I did a fairly complete review of North American Paraprionospio as part 
of the Taxonomic Atlas of the Santa Maria Basin ..., Vol. 6, the 
spionid chapter.  My conclusion is that the species is present in both 
North and South America, but most certainly does not occur in the 
western Pacific.  I also think it is probably the only species in the 
Americas.  I have not seen specimens from the eastern Atlantic, so 
cannot comment on any records from there. P. pinnata has several unique 
features that make its identification is relatively easy. This will be 
reviewed in my chapter.  Vol. 6 is scheduled for publication in 
February.  More later on vol. 5, out this month.

Jim Blake
Woods Hole, MA
(jablake at ix.netcom.com)