The invertebrate phylum Nemertina (Nemertea, Rhynchocoela) comprises bilaterally symmetrical, acoelomate, unsegmented, vermiform animals that are closely related to turbellarian flatworms (phylum Platyhelminthes) but exhibit a higher level of organization by possessing a blood vascular system and a definitive anus at the posterior end of the body (Gontcharoff, 1961; Gibson, 1972). The phylum includes the class Anopla with the orders Palaeonemertini and Heteronemertini and the class Enopla with the orders Hoplonemertini and Bdellonemertini. Approximately 800 species are known.
Nemerteans, also called ribbon worms, vary in length from 1 mm to about 30 m. Some species are white or grayish and transparent, whereas others are brightly colored in shades of red, orange, yellow, green, and brown, and patterns formed by longitudinal stripes and/or transverse bands in contrasting colors are not uncommon. The usually slender, soft, and strongly contractile body is covered by a ciliated glandular...
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References
Gibson, R., 1972. Nemerteans. London: Hutchinson & Co., 224p.
Gontcharoff, M., 1961. Némertiens, in P. P. Grasse, ed., Traité de Zoologie. Vol. 4. Paris: Masson et Campagnie, 783–886.
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© 1982 Hutchinson Ross Publishing Company
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Kirsteuer, E. (1982). Nemertina . In: Beaches and Coastal Geology. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-30843-1_298
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-30843-1_298
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