A new nemertean species: what are the useful characters for ribbon worm descriptions?. (30th October 2013)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Strand, Malin; Herrera-Bachiller, Alfonso; Nygren, Arne; Kånneby, Tobias
• Is Part Of: Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom. Volume 94:Number 2(2014:Mar.)
• Page Start: 317
• Page End: 330
• Publication Date: 2013-10-30
• Subjects: Hoplonemertea, -- COI, -- mt-DNA, -- description, -- morphology, -- characters; Biology -- Periodicals; Marine biology -- Periodicals; 578.77
• DOI: 10.1017/S002531541300146X
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0025-3154

Abstract

Abstract : In recent years the Norwegian Taxonomy Initiative started thorough investigations of poorly known organism groups. In this context, several marine inventories have rendered a number of marine invertebrate species new to science. Within the phylum Nemertea (ribbon worms) a characteristic hoplonemertean was encountered on two different occasions. We describe the new species Amphiporus rectangulus sp. nov. with a combination of histology and DNA data (COI). For the morphological description we use a previously proposed character matrix and, in a context given by the results, also provide a brief discussion on benefits and drawbacks with both methods. We argue that for small animals with soft bodies external characters can be more informative than hitherto expected.