Meeting Abstract
The nemertean fauna of Bocas del Toro, Panama is very poorly known. Two publications report approximately 16 species, two thirds of which are unnamed. Recent DNA-barcoding of nemertean adults and larvae sampled by us over the course of the past 15 years suggests that the actual diversity is at least five times what is reported, with an even greater fraction of undescribed species. Out of 81 putative species, we found 14 only as larvae, 66 only as adults and just one as both larval and adult forms. Little overlap between adult and larval samples suggests that we are still undersampling. Our data suggests that nemertean fauna of Bocas del Toro includes many cryptic species complexes, each containing 2-5 molecular operational taxonomic units. Prevalence of cryptic species and sporadic sampling likely explain the discrepancy between the number of reported species and the actual diversity. Our immediate goal is to formally characterize and describe this diversity, focussing on characters of external appearance of live animals, and DNA-barcodes. Our experience suggests that this information, in addition to geographical and habitat data, allows unambiguous species identification. Eliminating traditional histological examination will dramatically expedite the process of species description — a necessity, given the large amount of undescribed diversity, and the rapid changes of Earth’s climate and ecosystems.
