Three Species of Ribbon Worms (Nemertea) from Cebu, the Philippines

Abstract

Three species of nemerteans, Balionemertes cf. australiensis Sundberg, Gibson, and Olsson, 2003 (Palaeonemertea), Prosadenoporus olympiae sp. nov. (Hoplonemertea: Eumonostilifera), and Coella gloriae sp. nov. (Hoplonemertea: Polystilifera: Reptantia), are reported based on material collected intertidally at a rocky shore in Cebu Island, Republic of the Philippines. Cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) barcode sequences of these species have earlier been published elsewhere. The Cebu specimen that is herein identified tentatively as Balionemertes cf. australiensis posseses i) small black dots on the ventral body surface, ii) a neurochord in the lateral nerve, iii) serial rhynchocoelic septa, and iv) nephrostomes, characters that were not mentioned in the original description of the species from Australia; the exact species identification requires barcode sequences from topotypes. Prosadenoporus olympiae can be differentiated morphologically from other congeners by having three accessory-stylet pouches; when alive, worms of this species showed negative hydrotaxis. Coella gloriae differs from all the reptantic polystiliferans by having i) four rows of the eyes, ii) the cephalic furrows, iii) no dorsal marking, iv) separate mouth and proboscis openings, v) blind-ending extracerebral vessels, vi) non-forked fibre core in the dorsal ganglia, vii) the subdorsal nerves, and viii) the cerebral organs partly overlapping the brain.