Austropolaria

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Austropolaria is a genus of marine annelids known as scale worms, in the family Polynoidae. The genus has a single species, Austropolaria magnicirrata.

Distribution and habitat:
- Found only in the Amundsen Sea, Southern Ocean
- Living at depths of 1000–1500 meters
- Not found at shallower stations around 500 meters in the studied area, suggesting it occupies deeper basins shaped by subglacial meltwater erosion

Key features:
- Seven pairs of papillae on the pharynx
- Nine pairs of reduced elytrophores
- Ventral cirri inserted subdistally on the neuropodia
- A ventral keel at the posterior end
- A. magnicirrata has 20 body segments and 9 pairs of elytra
- Lateral antennae are absent
- Notochaetae are thicker than neurochaetae

Taxonomy:
- Kingdom: Animalia
- Phylum: Annelida
- Clade: Pleistoannelida
- Subclass: Errantia
- Order: Phyllodocida
- Family: Polynoidae
- Genus: Austropolaria
- Type species: Austropolaria magnicirrata