Leonnatesindicus Kinberg, 1865.

https://www.marinespecies.org/polychaeta/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=129374.

Qiu and Qian (2000); Villalobos-Guerrero et al. (2022a).

Oral ring papillae present; maxillary ring paragnaths present; oral ring paragnaths absent; ventral neuropodial ligule on posterior chaetigers similar to length of acicular neuropodial ligule; neurochaetae dorsal fascicle homogomph spinigers present (minimal diagnosis; secondary diagnosis not attained).

Palpophore barrel-shaped, approximately equal width from base to palpostyle (not overly large compared with palpostyle), or massive subconical, flattened (palpostyle is minute by comparison). Palpophore surface with a single transverse groove (palpophores well developed). Prostomium anterior margin entire or indented (indented only in L.persicus and L.stephensoni); longitudinal groove present; anterior region sub-quadrangular or sub-rectangular. Tentacular belt greater than length of chaetiger 1.

Oesophageal caeca absent.

Jaws with smooth or slightly crenulate cutting edge or with dentate cutting edge.

Maxillary ring of pharynx with papillae present, or absent; solitary. Maxillary ring paragnaths present. Area I conical paragnaths present, or absent; II conical paragnaths present; III conical paragnaths present, or absent; III rod-like paragnaths absent; IV paragnaths present; IV conical paragnaths present; IV smooth bar-like paragnaths present, or absent; IV rod-like paragnaths absent. Oral ring papillae present. Oral ring papillae arrangement solitary. Area V papillae present, or absent; VI papillae present; VII-VIII papillae present. Oral ring paragnaths absent.

Dorsal notopodial ligule not markedly elongate on posterior chaetigers; not markedly broader on posterior chaetigers; not markedly reduced on posterior chaetigers. Prechaetal notopodial lobe present; smaller than dorsal notopodial ligule on anterior chaetigers, usually reduced or absent posteriorly, or approximately equal to length of dorsal notopodial ligule at least on anterior chaetigers (thus notopodium of three similarly sized ligules/lobes); present on all chaetigers, or restricted to a limited number of anterior chaetigers. Notopodial acicular process absent. Dorsal cirrus not sub-terminally attached to dorsal notopodial ligule on posterior chaetigers; not terminally attached to dorsal notopodial ligule on posterior chaetigers; not terminally attached throughout all chaetigers.

Neuropodial prechaetal lobe absent. Neuropodial postchaetal lobe present; projecting beyond end of the acicular ligule; present throughout all chaetigers or restricted to anterior chaetigers; digitiform. Ventral neuropodial ligule of anterior chaetigers present. Ventral neuropodial ligule of anterior chaetigers approx. as long as acicular neuropodial ligule. Ventral neuropodial ligule on posterior chaetigers present. Ventral neuropodial ligule on posterior chaetigers similar to length of acicular neuropodial ligule.

Notoaciculae on chaetigers 1 and 2 absent. Notochaetae: homogomph spinigers present; homogomph falcigers present, or absent. Neurochaetae dorsal fascicle: heterogomph spinigers present, or absent (present in L.fujianensis); homogomph spinigers present; sesquigomph spinigers present, or absent (present in L.fujianensis); sesquigomph falcigers present, or absent; heterogomph falcigers in anterior chaetigers present, or absent; on posterior chaetigers present, or absent; homogomph falcigers in anterior chaetigers present, or absent; on posterior chaetigers present, or absent. Neurochaetae ventral fascicle: sesquigomph falcigers present, or absent; blade with a single distal tooth; heterogomph spinigers present, or absent; homogomph spinigers present, or absent; sesquigomph spinigers present, or absent; heterogomph falcigers present, or absent; falcigers blade bowed, with convex margin; heterogomph falcigers blade lacking distinct tendon on terminal tooth; homogomph falcigers in anterior chaetigers present, or absent; on posterior chaetigers present, or absent. Ventral fascicle neuropodial falcigers apparently vary considerably between species.

Anal cirri form cirriform or conical.

The current description and diagnosis follow Qiu and Qian (2000) and emendments by Villalobos-Guerrero et al. (2022a). Original descriptions sometimes report the presence of sesquigomph falcigers and spinigers but as noted by Qiu and Qian (2000) some of these interpretations are inconsistent, with the same chaetal forms being given different names by some authors. However Qiu and Qian (2000) also do not interpret these terms consistently: they do not use the term sesquigomph yet their figures 3B and 3E (Leonnatesindicus Kinberg, 1865), 5E (L.nierstraszi Horst, 1924), 7B (L.decipiens Fauvel, 1929), 9D (L.persicus Wesenberg-Lund, 1949, and 14D (L.crinitus Hutchings & Reid, 1991, albeit damaged) all show sesquigomph articulation as accepted by other authors, e.g. Villalobos-Guerrero et al. (2022a: fig. 12i, j; Parasetiairritabilis (Webster, 1879)), Bakken et al. (2022: figs 7.13.3.3.3: C, 7.13.3.3.4: C), de León-González and Salazar-Vallejo (2003: fig. 1E, F) (Leonnatescrosnieri de León-González & Salazar-Vallejo, 2003).

Leonnates includes 13 species with the greatest diversity in the tropical Indo-Pacific. Qiu and Qian (2000) provide a key to the seven species known at that time.