A new species of Xenoturbella from the western Pacific Ocean and the evolution of Xenoturbella.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Xenoturbella is a group of marine benthic animals lacking an anus and a centralized nervous system. Molecular phylogenetic analyses group the animal together with the Acoelomorpha, forming the Xenacoelomorpha. This group has been suggested to be either a sister group to the Nephrozoa or a deuterostome, and therefore it may provide important insights into origins of bilaterian traits such as an anus, the nephron, feeding larvae and centralized nervous systems. However, only five Xenoturbella species have been reported and the evolutionary history of xenoturbellids and Xenacoelomorpha remains obscure.

Results

Here we describe a new Xenoturbella species from the western Pacific Ocean, and report a new xenoturbellid structure - the frontal pore. Non-destructive microC

SUBMITTER: Nakano H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5733810 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature