Nemertean taxonomy-Implementing changes in the higher ranks, dismissing Anopla and Enopla

STRAND, MALIN; NORENBURG, JON; ALFAYA, JOSÉ E.; ÁNGEL FERNÁNDEZ-ÁLVAREZ, FERNANDO; ANDERSSON, HÅKAN S; ANDRADE, SONIA C. S.; BARTOLOMAEUS, THOMAS; BECKERS, PATRICK; BIGATTI, GREGORIO; CHERNEVA, IRINA; CHERNYSHEV, ALEXEY; CHUNG, BRIAN M.; VON DÖHREN, JÖRN; GIRIBET, GONZALO; GONZALEZ-CUETO, JAIME; HERRERA-BACHILLER, ALFONSO; HIEBERT, TERRA; HOOKABE, NATSUMI; JUNOY, JUAN; KAJIHARA, HIROSHI; KRÄMER, DARIA; KVIST, SEBASTIAN; MAGARLAMOV, TIMUR YU; MASLAKOVA, SVETLANA; MENDES, CECILI B.; OKAZAKI, ROBERT; SAGORNY, CHRISTINA; SCHWARTZ, MEGAN; SUN, SHI-CHUN; SUNDBERG, PER; TURBEVILLE, JAMES M.; XU, CONG-MEI

ZOOLOGICA SCRIPTA

WILEY-BLACKWELL PUBLISHING, INC

Año: 2019 vol. 48 p. 118 - 119

0300-3256

Nemertean classification has closely followed Stiasny‐Wijnhoff?s scheme (1936) that was based on Schultze?s(1851) division of the taxon into the two classes Anopla andEnopla. In August 2018, the 9th International Conference ofNemertean Biology took place in the Wadden Sea Station ofthe Alfred Wegener Institute in List auf Sylt, Germany. Atthis meeting, the community reached consensus to revise nemerteantaxonomy at the class level, based on the compiledevidence from studies on nemertean systematics publishedin the last 15 years (Andrade et al., 2014, 2012 ; Thollesson& Norenburg, 2003). Previous classifications (e.g., Stiasny‐Wijnhoff, 1936) are not based on phylogenetic grounds, andthe use of these names is therefore nowadays not wholly informative.With the purpose of facilitating the practical useof the nemertean taxonomy and also making nemertean taxonomyreflect a wealth of more recent information, we concludethat the ranks Anopla and Enopla should be eliminatedwith the following argumentation: ?Enopla? has for longheld no more information than the name ?Hoplonemertea?.?Anopla? is paraphyletic and the name usually correspondsto the following traits: (a) not bearing stylet; and (b) mouthand proboscis having separate openings. This information isequally well presented in a system that also bears informationon natural groups.