Oligodendrorhynchus hesperides gen. et sp. n. (Heteronemertea) from the Bellingshausen Sea

• Published in: Polish Polar Research
• Main Authors: Fernández-Alvarez, Fernando, Anadón, Nuria
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: Walter de Gruyter GmbH 2012
• Subjects: Ecology; Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics; Antarctic; Bellingshausen Sea; The Antarctic; Antarc*; Polar Research
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.2478/v10183-012-0006-3; http://content.sciendo.com/view/journals/popore/33/1/article-p81.xml; https://www.degruyter.com/view/j/popore.2012.33.issue-1/v10183-012-0006-3/v10183-012-0006-3.pdf

Oligodendrorhynchus hesperides gen. et sp. n. (Heteronemertea) from the Bellingshausen Sea A new genus and species of heteronemertean from the Antarctic (Bellingshausen Sea), Oligodendrorhynchus hesperides , is described and illustrated. Some morphological features with major systematic significance are following: the mode of branching of the proboscis and its low number of terminal branches; the lack of horizontal lateral cephalic slits but in their place a pair of shallow epidermal depressions; a gelatinous amorphous connective stratum between the outer longitudinal and circular muscle layers; the presence of a rhynchocoelic nerve; isolated fibres of the rhynchocoel circular muscle layer interwoven with bundles of the adjacent body-wall inner longitudinal muscle fibres in the intestinal region. Other anatomical characters which can also be used to distinguish the new taxon from existing heteronemertean species that have a branched proboscis are also discussed.