dcsimg

General Description

provided by Nemertea

(from Coe, W. R. (1905). Nemerteans of the west and northwest coasts of America. Bull. Mus. comp. Zool. Harv.. 1-318)

Parasitic nemerteans characterized by short, stout, much flattened bodies of leech-like appearance and movements, and provided with largerounded sucker at posterior end. Mouth and proboscis open close together or into a common atrium at the emarginate anterior end of body. Head not demarcated from body, without lateral grooves. Ocelli and cerebral sense organs wanting.

Proboscis sheath extends to posterior opening of intestine; proboscis slender, without stylets, but having a specialized bulb which apparently represents the degenerated stylet apparatus.
Intestine without diverticula, slender, convoluted, longer than body and opening posteriorly at base of sucker. Body parenchyma very voluminous.

Parasitic in branchial cavity of various species of marine lamellibranchs.

license
cc-by-nc
copyright
Ritger, Rebecca
author
Ritger, Rebecca
partner site
Nemertea

Malacobdella

provided by wikipedia EN

Malacobdellidae is a monogeneric family within the phylum Nemertea. It is included with the order Hoplonemertea within the class Enopla (formerly in monotypic order Bdellonemertea of the same class).[1]

Morphology

The family, as well as its sole genus Malacobdella, is characterized by a posterior ventral sucker and a proboscis lacking a stylet.[2] As in other Hoplonemertea, the lateral longitudinal nerve cord is located internal to the body wall muscles, in the mesenchyme.[3]

Ecology

Members of Bdellonemertea are all commensal, living in the mantle cavities of bivalves.[4] The only non-marine and non-bivalve hosted species, Malacobdella auriculae, is doubtful. It was described in 1847 by Émile Blanchard on the basis of a single drawing of his colleague and probably wasn't even a nemertean.[5] Malacobdella feed on small food particles that are brought into the mollusk's ctenidia.

References

  1. ^ Tholleson, M. and Norenburg, J.L. (2003). "Ribbon worm relationships: a phylogeny of the phylum Nemertea". Proceedings of the Royal Society B 270: 407-415.
  2. ^ Gibson, R. (1972). Nemerteans. Hutchinson & Co. Ltd. ISBN 0-09-111990-1.
  3. ^ Brusca, R.C. and Brusca, G.J. (2003). "Phylum Nemertea: The Ribbon Worms". Invertebrates (2 ed.) Sinauer Associates, Inc. p.329. ISBN 0-87893-097-3.
  4. ^ Pechenik, J.A. (2005). "The Nemertines". Biology of the Invertebrates (5 ed.) McGraw-Hill. p. 205. ISBN 0-07-234899-2.
  5. ^ Kozloff, E. N. (1991). "Malacobdella siliquae sp. nov. and Malacobdella macomae sp. nov., commensal nemerteans from bivalve molluscs on the Pacific coast of North America". Canadian Journal of Zoology. 69 (6): 1612–1618. doi:10.1139/z91-225.
license
cc-by-sa-3.0
copyright
Wikipedia authors and editors
original
visit source
partner site
wikipedia EN

Malacobdella: Brief Summary

provided by wikipedia EN

Malacobdellidae is a monogeneric family within the phylum Nemertea. It is included with the order Hoplonemertea within the class Enopla (formerly in monotypic order Bdellonemertea of the same class).

license
cc-by-sa-3.0
copyright
Wikipedia authors and editors
original
visit source
partner site
wikipedia EN