In their Commentary to our paper recently published in Zoology (Righi et al., 2021a), Tilic and Bartolomaeus question our findings that the chaetae of Hermodice carunculata (Annelida) are hollow and able to store and deliver venoms. They sustain the idea that inflammatory chemicals are secreted through epidermal glands and possibly exposed to predator trough wounds caused by the brittle chaetae. We provide evidence-based arguments in support of our considerations. The sample preparation procedures did not affect the native inner structure of unfixed fireworm chaetae, which is clearly hollow as supported by both ultrastructure observation and crystal-chemical analysis of constituents. Furthermore, our previous and more recent feeding bioassays and chemical analysis indicate both that chaetae retain strong deterrent capacities even when isolated from the body of H. carunculata, and that they contain venoms. The cellular mechanisms involved in fireworm chaeta storage and deliver of chemicals are still unstudied. We strongly believe that this lack of knowledge should draw further attention on H. carunculata biology, pursuing new hypotheses and studies based on the noteworthy information which has been obtained so far.

中文翻译：

---

对 Tilic 和 Bartolomaeus 对原始研究论文“解开火虫刺毛的超微结构和矿物组成”（动物学，144）的评论的回应

Tilic 和 Bartolomaeus 在他们最近发表在 Zoology 上的论文的评论中（Righi 等人，2021a）质疑我们的发现，即 Hermodice carunculata (Annelida) 的毛毛虫是空心的，能够储存和输送毒液。他们坚持认为炎症化学物质通过表皮腺分泌，并可能暴露于由脆弱的毛科动物引起的捕食者槽伤口。我们提供基于证据的论据来支持我们的考虑。样品制备过程不影响未固定的萤火虫毛毛虫的天然内部结构，超微结构观察和成分的晶体化学分析都支持该结构显然是空心的。此外，我们之前和最近的饲养生物测定和化学分析表明，即使从 H. carunculata 的身体中分离出来，毛毛虫仍保持强大的威慑能力，而且它们含有毒液。萤火虫毛囊储存和化学物质传递所涉及的细胞机制仍未得到研究。我们坚信，这种知识的缺乏应该引起对 H. carunculata 生物学的进一步关注，根据迄今为止获得的值得注意的信息寻求新的假设和研究。