On a population of Sabella pavonina (Annelida Polychaeta) in Mar Grande of Taranto

The species Sabella pavonina Savigny, 1820 (Polychaeta: Sabellidae) was found for the first time in a site along the Ionian coast (Apulia, southern Italy). Although this species is considered a common Mediterranean taxon, very few finding are available for the Italian coast and most are referable to faunistic list, without description and figures. A description of the taxon completed with good iconographic material is therefore given. The material from the Mar Grande of Taranto is compared to that available from the Tyrrhenian Sea and to the description of type species from the type locality. Moreover, S. pavonina is also compared to the most common congeneric species S. spallanzanii, whose adults can easily be separated from S. pavonina, but whose young specimens could be confused.