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Pholoe minuta
(preliminary entry)

Subspecies
Several subspecies have been described, but not all of them are currently recognized. Since none of them is confidently reported from Germany (see Distribution below), the names of all taxa that are still contained in Pholoe minuta is given below.

Synonyms
Taxon 1:
Aphrodita minuta Fabricius, 1780
Polynoe minuta (Fabricius, 1780)
Pholoe minuta (Fabricius, 1780)
Pholoe minuta minuta (Fabricius, 1780)

This taxon has been described from Greenland. It appears to be restricted to Greenland and the eastern coast of North America. Other records require confirmation, because they may refer to other taxa.

Taxon 2:
Pholoe minuta caeca Uschakov, 1950

This taxon occurs in the northern Pacific (Sea of Okhotsk). Based on this disjunct distribution, this taxon might be a separate species.

Taxon 3:
Pholoe tecta Stimpson, 1854
Pholoe minuta tecta (Stimpson, 1854)

This taxon has been described from eastern Canada. It might thus be synonymous with Pholoe minuta minuta.

Taxon 4:
Pholoe minuta nana Zachs, 1923
Pholoe minuta nans Hartman, 1959 (misspelling)

This taxon occurs in the White Sea and Barents Sea. The tecta and nana taxa are often considered to be synonyms, but this is very unlikely given their disjunct distribution (see above).

Note: Pholoe minuta anoculata Hartman, 1965 is currently regarded as a separate species Pholoe anoculata; and Pholoe minuta hirsuta Rullier et Amoureux, 1979 is currently regarded as a spearate species Taylorpholoe hirsuta. Neither of these two occurs in European waters.

Distribution
Before the study of Petersen (1998) most records of a species of Pholoe in European waters was identified as Pholoe minuta. In fact, Pholoe minuta was the only species of Pholoe listed for Germany up to this point. However, Pholoe minuta has been originally described from Greenland and Petersen (1998) showed that among several thousands of specimens collected in European waters not a single Pholoe minuta could be identified. She concluded from this, that all previous records of Pholoe minuta in Europe were misidentifications. The nominate form of the species appears to be restricted to Greenland and eastern North America. Currently, there is no confirmed record of genuine Pholoe minuta in Germany or elsewhere in Europe; nevertheless it is still listed in faunal and checklists for Germany. In consequence, all finds of Pholoe specimens in Germany should be carefully identified. If it cannot be confirmed by new finds, Pholoe minuta should be removed from the faunal list for Germany. For the distribution of the other "forms" see Synonyms above.