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World Nemertea Database
Citable as data publication
Norenburg, J.; Chernyshev, A.; Kajihara, H.; Maslakova, S. (2024). World Nemertea Database. Accessed at https://www.marinespecies.org/nemertea on yyyy-mm-dd. https://doi.org/10.14284/459
Availability: This dataset is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Description
A world checklist of Nemertea, compiled by taxonomic experts and based on peer-reviewed literature. more
Approximately 1300 valid, described species of the phylum Nemertea, or ribbonworms, are known worldwide, inhabiting oceans, freshwaters, and land. Current field-work suggests that at least several times this number remain to be named or discovered. Nemerteans are unsegmented worms characterized by a unique and remarkable eversible proboscis. Some are colorful, while others are drab. They range from one millimeter to more than 30 meters long. Some are highly specialized predators while others are more eclectic, with diets that favor other worms, crustaceans, and mollusks. They are poorly known to non-specialists, because most nemerteans live in concealment and are difficult to collect, and because traditional taxonomy focuses significantly on internal anatomy based on histological study, while now we use genetic data extensively. However, many are common, abundant and can be key predators, while the phylum itself is important to understanding evolution of early invertebrate body plans. This site is intended to make these worms less enigmatic. The emphasis is on taxonomy, but the intent is to accommodate all aspects of nemertean biology.
Approximately 1300 valid, described species of the phylum Nemertea, or ribbonworms, are known worldwide, inhabiting oceans, freshwaters, and land. Current field-work suggests that at least several times this number remain to be named or discovered. Nemerteans are unsegmented worms characterized by a unique and remarkable eversible proboscis. Some are colorful, while others are drab. They range from one millimeter to more than 30 meters long. Some are highly specialized predators while others are more eclectic, with diets that favor other worms, crustaceans, and mollusks. They are poorly known to non-specialists, because most nemerteans live in concealment and are difficult to collect, and because traditional taxonomy focuses significantly on internal anatomy based on histological study, while now we use genetic data extensively. However, many are common, abundant and can be key predators, while the phylum itself is important to understanding evolution of early invertebrate body plans. This site is intended to make these worms less enigmatic. The emphasis is on taxonomy, but the intent is to accommodate all aspects of nemertean biology.
Scope
Themes:
Biology, Biology > Ecology - biodiversity, Biology > Invertebrates
Keywords:
Marine/Coastal, Fresh water, Brackish water, Terrestrial, Classification, Marine invertebrates, Species, Taxonomy, World Waters, Nemertea
Geographical coverage
World Waters [Marine Regions]
Temporal coverage
From 1758 on [In Progress]
Taxonomic coverage
Nemertea [WoRMS]
Parameters
Taxonomy
Contributors
Norenburg, Jon, data manager, taxonomic editor, data creator
Artois, Tom, taxonomic editor
Chernyshev, Alexey, taxonomic editor, data creator
Gibson, Raymond, taxonomic editor
Herrera Bachiller, Alfonso, taxonomic editor
Kajihara, Hiroshi, taxonomic editor, data creator
Maslakova, Svetlana, taxonomic editor, data creator
Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ), more, database developer
Related datasets
Published in:
WoRMS: World Register of Marine Species, more
Dataset status: In Progress
Data type: Data
Data origin: Literature research
Metadatarecord created: 2013-04-22
Information last updated: 2024-11-07