Biodiversity of Nemerteans from Patagonia (Argentina).

BIGATTI GREGORIO; JOSE E. F. ALFAYA

Bocas del Toro

Workshop; Workshop on Nemertean Biology and Taxonomy; 2018

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute

Nemertean biology inArgentina is poor known; few works made in 70 and 80s, describing only 9species from Argentina. Since 90s the Nemertean were forgotten until 2002, whenMalacobdella arrokeana was describedas the only Malacobdella specie forSouthern Atlantic Ocean. This lack of knowledge is mainly due a low number ofresearchers interested in the phylum and the well-known taxonomy difficultiesof its study. Fifteen years later, we report literature-based taxonomic catalogue of nemeteans from Argentina,listing 30 species (2 Paleonemertea, 16 Pilidiophora, and 12 Hoplonemertea). Specimenswere collected at the following zones: twentynew records from Patagonia, seven from Burdwood Bank and three from Antarctica.Geographic records are indicated for each species, and for some, comments areincluded on certain biological and taxonomic aspect.