Zygonemertes virescens (Verrill, 1879)

Gonzalez-Cueto, Jaime, Quiroga, Sigmer & Norenburg, Jon, 2014, A shore-based preliminary survey of marine ribbon worms (Nemertea) from the Caribbean coast of Colombia, ZooKeys 439, pp. 83-108 : 97

Taxon classification Animalia Heteronemertea Monostilifera

Zygonemertes virescens (Verrill, 1879) Fig. 4 K–M

Description.

Six specimens up to about 30 mm long, <2 mm wide; dorsoventrally flattened, bluntly rounded at both ends. Variable color, from white to yellow or greenish. Cerebral organ furrows shallow, precerebral. Numerous pre-cerebral small ocelli arranged in two pair irregular rows of about 15-20 ocelli each; row of post-cerebral ocelli each side between brain and lateral margin of body, extending far posterior to brain along lateral nerve cord. Rhynchopore subterminal; rhynchocoel wide and almost full body length; proboscis long with small papillae; stylet slender (length: 60 µm) supported on massive and medially constricted basis (112 × 28 µm); two pouches, each bearing 3 accessory stylets. Epidermis with minute crescent-sphaped intracellular spicules.

Distribution.

Gulf of Mexico and New England ( Norenburg 2009); California and Oregon ( Corrêa 1964); Southern Florida and Virgin Islands ( Corrêa 1961); Gulf of Maine ( Gibson 2014c); North Atlantic (Azores) ( Strand 2002); Santa Marta, Colombia.