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Nemertodermatida are microscopic marine worms likely to be the sister-group to acoels, forming with them the earliest extant branch of bilaterian animals, although their phylogenetic position is debated. The nervous system of Flagellophora cf. apelti, Sterreria spp. and Nemertoderma cf. westbladi has been investigated by immunohistochemistry and confocal microscopy using anti-tubulin, anti-5-HT and anti-FMRFamide antibodies. The nervous system of Flagellophora cf. apelti is composed of a large neuropile and a loose brain at the level of the statocysts with several nerve fibres surrounding them and innervating the broom organ. Sterreria spp. shows a commissural-like brain and several neurite bundles going frontad and caudad from this. At the level of the statocysts there is also a thicker aggregation of immunoreactive fibres. The nervous system of N. cf. westbladi consists of a nerve ring lying outside the body wall musculature at the level of the statocyst and a pair of ventro-lateral neurite bundles, from which extend thinner fibres innervating the ventral side of the animal. Numerous bottle-shaped glands were observed, innervated by fibres starting both from the brain and the neurite bundles. The nervous system of the nemertodermatids studied to-date displays no common pattern, instead there is considerable plasticity in the general morphology of the nervous system. In addition, the musculature of Sterreria spp. has been studied by phalloidin staining. It shows diagonal muscles in the anterior quarter of the body and a simple orthogonal grid in the posterior three quarters, being simpler than that of the other nemertodermatids. High-resolution differential interference contrast microscopy permitted to better visualise some morphological characters of the species studied, such as statocysts, sperm and glands and, in combination with anti-tubulin staining, describe in detail the broom organ in Flagellophora cf. apelti. Finally, we note an apparent absence of innervation of the gut in Nemertodermatida similar to the condition in Xenoturbella.

Nemertodermatida is a small taxon of microscopic marine worms, which were originally classified within Platyhelminthes. Today they are hypothesized to be either an early bilaterian lineage or the sister group to Ambulacraria within Deuterostomia. These two hypotheses indicate widely diverging evolutionary histories in this largely neglected group. Here, we analyse the phylogeny of Nemertodermatida using nucleotide sequences from the ribosomal LSU and SSU genes and the protein coding Histone 3 gene. All currently known species except Ascoparia neglecta and Ascoparia secunda were included in the study in addition to several yet undescribed species. Ascopariidae and Nemertodermatidae are retrieved as separate clades, although not in all analyses as sister groups. Non-monophyly of Nemertodermatida was rejected by the Approximately Unbiased test. Nemertodermatid nucleotide sequences deposited in Genbank before 2013 were validated against our dataset; some of them are shown to be chimeric implying falsification of prior hypotheses about nemertodermatid phylogeny: other sequences should be assigned new names. We also show that the genus Nemertoderma needs revision.

Nemertodermatida are microscopically small, benthic marine worms. Specimens of two nominal species, Sterreria psammicola and Nemertinoides elongatus from 33 locations worldwide were sequenced for three molecular markers. Species delimitation and validation was done using gene trees, haplotype networks and multilocus Bayesian analysis. We found 20 supported species of which nine: Nemertinoides glandulosum n. sp., N. wolfgangi n. sp., Sterreria boucheti n. sp., S. lundini n. sp., S. martindalei n. sp., S. monolithes n. sp., S. papuensis n. sp., S. variabilis n. sp. and S. ylvae n. sp., are described including nucleotide-based diagnoses. The distribution patterns indicate transoceanic dispersal in some of the species. Sympatric species were found in many cases. The high level of cryptic diversity in this meiofauna group implies that marine diversity may be higher than previously estimated.

Nemertodermatida is a small taxon of marine worm-like animals; its position in the tree of life is highly contested. The musculature of Nemertoderma westbladi and Meara stichopi is studied here in detail using fluorescent phalloidin and confocal microscopy. In both species, the musculature is composed of an outer layer of circular and an inner layer of longitudinal musculature, diagonal muscles form a distinct layer in N. westbladi, but in M. stichopi these fibres connect to both other layers. The supraterminally opening male pore and antrum are formed by invagination of the whole body-wall in both species, and the seminal vesicle is lined by a thin net of musculature only in full male maturity. Modifications of the ventral body-wall adjacent to the mouth are small and transient in N. westbladi including no extra musculature, whereas it consists of additional strong U-shaped musculature in M. stichopi. Myogenesis in N. westbladi is not finished in hatchlings and will be completed dorsally in juvenile specimens and ventrally in male mature ones, after the loss of the mouth. Musculature between the two species differs considerably and might give insights into the internal relationships of Nemertodermatida and might prove to be useful in studies investigating their phylogenetic position. More data of other species and developmental changes are needed.

BackgroundBiogeographical and macroecological principles are derived from patterns of distribution in large organisms, whereas microscopic ones have often been considered uninteresting, because of their supposed wide distribution. Here, after reporting the results of an intensive faunistic survey of marine microscopic animals (meiofauna) in Northern Sardinia, we test for the effect of body size, dispersal ability, and habitat features on the patterns of distribution of several groups.Methodology/principal findingsAs a dataset we use the results of a workshop held at La Maddalena (Sardinia, Italy) in September 2010, aimed at studying selected taxa of soft-bodied meiofauna (Acoela, Annelida, Gastrotricha, Nemertodermatida, Platyhelminthes and Rotifera), in conjunction with data on the same taxa obtained during a previous workshop hosted at Tjärnö (Western Sweden) in September 2007. Using linear mixed effects models and model averaging while accounting for sampling bias and potential pseudoreplication, we found evidence that: (1) meiofaunal groups with more restricted distribution are the ones with low dispersal potential; (2) meiofaunal groups with higher probability of finding new species for science are the ones with low dispersal potential; (3) the proportion of the global species pool of each meiofaunal group present in each area at the regional scale is negatively related to body size, and positively related to their occurrence in the endobenthic habitat.Conclusion/significanceOur macroecological analysis of meiofauna, in the framework of the ubiquity hypothesis for microscopic organisms, indicates that not only body size but mostly dispersal ability and also occurrence in the endobenthic habitat are important correlates of diversity for these understudied animals, with different importance at different spatial scales. Furthermore, since the Western Mediterranean is one of the best-studied areas in the world, the large number of undescribed species (37%) highlights that the census of marine meiofauna is still very far from being complete.