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Species Diversity of Japanese Ribbon Worms (Nemertea)

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Species Diversity of Animals in Japan

Part of the book series: Diversity and Commonality in Animals ((DCA))

Abstract

This chapter provides a brief taxonomic conspectus of the Japanese nemerteans with photographs of 100 species. A total of 126 species are recognized in Japanese waters, but there are still at least 77 unreported/undescribed forms awaiting formal description. Previous records of 4 species (Amphiporus gelatinosus Coe, 1905; Cerebratulus longiceps Coe, 1901; Cerebratulus montgomeryi Coe, 1901; and Emplectonema buergeri Coe, 1901) are regarded to be unsubstantiated. The names of the 3 species Cerebratulus penniger Iwata, 1957, Euborlasia proteres Iwata, 1957, and Lineus nipponensis Senz, 2001 are treated as nomina dubia. The following 6 are herein judged as junior synonyms of older names: Amphiporus insolitus Iwata, 1954 [=Diplomma serpentina (Stimpson, 1855)]; Amphiporus reduncus Iwata, 1957 and Amphiporus retrotumidus Iwata, 1957 [=Nipponnemertes ogumai (Yamaoka, 1947)]; Cerebratulus albocirculus Iwata, 1957 [=Lineus albovittatus (Stimpson, 1855)]; Cerebratulus fasciatus Stimpson, 1857 [=Notospermus geniculatus (Delle Chiaje, 1828)]; and Tetrastemma yamaokai Iwata, 1954 [=Tetrastemma roseocephalum (Yamaoka, 1947)]. Five species are herein added as new members of the Japanese nemertean fauna: Cerebratulus rubellus (Stimpson, 1855); Cerebratulus signatus Coe, 1905; Micrura callima Sundberg and Gibson, 1995; Tetrastemma pimaculatum Chernyshev, 1998; and Tortus tokmakovae Chernyshev, 1991.

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Acknowledgments

I thank Megan Schwartz, Sun Shichun, Alexei V. Chernyshev, and Jon L. Norenburg for critically reading the manuscript, improving my English, and also sharing some unpublished data; Yuji Ise, Junko Inoue, Koji Hosokawa, Keiichi Kakui, Hisanori Kohtsuka, Dhugal J. Lindsay, Atsushi Ono, Taku Shimada, Shinri Tomioka, and Ryuta Yoshida for providing valuable specimens and images; and Shunsuke Togawa for sharing the results of an unpublished study on Tubulanus.

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  1. Faculty of Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, 060-0810, Japan

    Hiroshi Kajihara

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  1. Hiroshi Kajihara
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Correspondence to Hiroshi Kajihara .

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  1. The Kyoto University Museum, Kyoto University, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto, Japan

    Masaharu Motokawa

  2. Faculty of Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

    Hiroshi Kajihara

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Kajihara, H. (2017). Species Diversity of Japanese Ribbon Worms (Nemertea). In: Motokawa, M., Kajihara, H. (eds) Species Diversity of Animals in Japan. Diversity and Commonality in Animals. Springer, Tokyo. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-56432-4_16

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