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Evolutionary relationships between mono- and polystiliferous hoplonemerteans: Nipponnemertes (Cratenemertidae), a “missing link” genus?

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Abstract

Histological studies on several species of the monostiliferous hoplonemertean genus Nipponnemertes show that they share certain significant features with reptantic Polystilifera. A brief survey of these features provides a basis for an analysis of possible evolutionary relationships between mono- and polystiliferous Hoplonemertea. It is suggested that ancestral enoplans possessed a rhynchocoel wall containing two muscle layers and a simple “protopolystiliferous” type of proboscis armature, and that this ancestral pool gave rise to two distinct evolutionary lineages, one leading to cratenemertid, group 2 terrestrial and freshwater, and polystiliferous hoplonemerteans, the other to the typical modern monostiliferous forms. A reclassification of the Enopla is proposed.

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  1. Department of Biology, Liverpool Polytechnic, Byrom Street, L3 3AF, Liverpool, United Kingdom

    Ray Gibson

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Gibson, R. Evolutionary relationships between mono- and polystiliferous hoplonemerteans: Nipponnemertes (Cratenemertidae), a “missing link” genus? . Hydrobiologia 156, 61–74 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00027979

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