Holotype: complete. MBM285071. Yellow Sea, Station A3 (36°59'28"N, 123°58'17"E); depth 77 m; shell and sand; coll. Dong, D. and Sui J.; 28 June 2012.

complete. MBM285072, same locality.

Prostomium with two rows of eyes, approximately ten in each row, appear to be crescent-shaped. Buccal tentacles smooth. Paleae and postbranchial hooks absent. Four pairs of branchiae. Twelve thoracic uncinigerous segments, 34 abdominal uncinigerous segments, without rudimentary notopodia. Pygidium with two pairs of long cirri.

Holotype. Tube cylindrical, black, with broken shells and sand (Fig. 1). Length 36 mm, thorax width 5 mm without chaetae. Thorax and abdomen well defined; thorax approximately twice width of abdomen (Fig. 2A). Color in alcohol pale yellow; appear to be some pigmentation on prostomium.

Figure 1. 

Phyllocomus chinensis sp. n., tube of holotype. Scale bar 2 cm.

Prostomium feebly developed on dorsum and forming lower triangular lobe ventrally with convex anterior margin. Two rows of eyes, approximately ten in each row, appear to be crescent-shaped. Buccal tentacles smooth (Fig. 2B). First segment achaetous. Paleae and postbranchial hooks absent. Four pairs branchiae. Innermost branchiae of anterior transverse row originating from segment II, outermost branchiae of anterior transverse row originating from segment III, outer pair awl-shaped, smooth (Fig. 3A), inner pair with single series of pectinate lamellae (Fig. 3B). Innermost branchiae of posterior transverse row originating from segment IV, outermost branchiae of posterior transverse row originating from segment V, two pairs of branchiae both with double rows of lamellae (Fig. 3C).

Figure 2. 

Phyllocomus chinensis sp. n. A whole specimen, lateral view B anterior end, dorsal view C last thoracic and first abdominal segments, lateral view D posterior region (with two pairs of long anal cirri) E consecutive variation of the neuropodia from segment 6 to segment 21. Scale bars A: 4 mm, B, E: 2mm, C–D: 1 mm.

Notopodia begin on segment III, present in 15 segments. Notopodia well-developed, conical, bearing bundle of winged capillary chaetae. Notopodia and capillaries of third to fifth segments increasing gradually in size. Neuropodial uncini begin on fourth chaetiger (segment VI) and present in 12 thoracic segments. Thorax sharply subdivided into two regions. Segments of anterior region (up to thoracic chaetiger 10) approximately half as long as those of posterior region, neuropodia of anterior region large, and similar-sized, while those of posterior region become gradually smaller; the neuropodia of last thoracic unciniger is half size of first thoracic unciniger. Neuropodia of thoracic uncinigers are tori, without dorsal cirrus; neuropodia of abdominal uncinigerous are pinnules, with papillary dorsal cirrus (Fig. 2E). Continuous ventral shields present to approximately thoracic unciniger 7. Elevated or modified notopodia absent. Thirty-four abdominal uncinigerous segments, without rudimentary notopodia (Fig. 2C). Thoracic torus 1 mm long, with approximately 68 uncini. Abdominal torus 0.5 mm long, with approximately 38 uncini. Uncini in abdominal segments are smaller than those of thorax. All uncini with single row of five teeth (Fig. 3D, E). Pygidium with two pairs of long cirri (Fig. 2D).

Figure 3. 

Phyllocomus chinensis sp. n. A awl-shaped branchiae from segment III B branchiae with one row of lamellae from segment II C branchiae with two rows of lamellae from segment 5 D thoracic uncinusfrom segment 7, lateral view; E abdominal uncinus from segment 20, lateral view. Scale bars A–C: 1 mm, D–E: 10 µm.

Paratype 25 mm long, 4 mm wide without chaetae, has 35 abdominal uncinigerous segments.

The species is named after its type locality on the coast of China. The species name is an adjective in the nominative singular, derived from China, with the Latin suffix -ensis to indicate the Chinese seas.

Yellow Sea at 77m depth. It is suspected that some species-list records of P. hiltoni and P. sovjeticus from China belong to P. chinensis sp. n. (Huang 1994; Liu 2008). Examination of more material from different localities will establish a more accurate distribution of the new species.

Three species of Phyllocomus, P. hiltoni (Chamberlin, 1919), P. fauveli (Hartman, 1955) and P. sovjeticus (Annenkova, 1937), are similar to the new species. They all have branchiae of the same type. Phyllocomus hiltoni and P. fauveli differ from the new species by having a long dorsal cirrus in the abdominal neuropodium, while the new species has a papillary dorsal cirrus. There are two major differences between the new species and P. sovjeticus: (1) the new species has thoracic neuropodia without dorsal cirri, while P. sovjeticus has large rounded, feebly-distinct papillary dorsal cirri (Annenkova 1937), (2) the new species has abdominal segments without rudimentary notopodia, while P. sovjeticus has a small and rounded rudimentary lobe (Annenkova 1937). Both are important characters to distinguish ampharetids species. Otherwise, the new species has two rows of eyes, approximately ten in each row, which appear to be crescent-shaped, 34–35 abdominal uncinigerous segments, and two pairs of long cirri in the pygidium, while the latter has no eyes, 44-54 abdominal uncinigerous segments, and a few rounded papillae on the pygidium (Okuda 1947). A key to all species of Phyllocomus is provided below.