Family Nemertodermatidae Steinböck, 1930
Description
Mouth ventral, without pharynx, gut with lumen. Nervous system epithelial, statocyst with more than one statolith. Without protonephridia. Common hermaphroditic gonad, sperm uniflagellate, male gonopore posterior or absent, usually without female ducts or accessory structures. Free-living and symbiotic, marine.
Type genus
Nemertoderma Steinböck, 1930
Genera
Flagellophora Faubel and Dörjes, 1978
Meara Westblad, 1950
Nemertoderma Steinböck, 1930
Nemertinoides Riser, 1987
Remark
Although Meara lives in holothurians, Westblad (1950) showed sections with copepods enclosed in the gut of the worm. This strongly infers the worms feed on gut contents rather than the host gut or tissues. Other representatives are free-living. |
