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Schultz, Anja
University of Victoria, P.O. Box 3020, Victoria, B.C.,V8W 3N5, Canada
e-mail: aschulze@uvic.ca
Tel: (250) 721-8858
Fax: (250) 721-7120
There has been a lot of confusion about the systematic status of vestimentiferan tube worms (=Obturata) in the past. These animals have been switched continuously between the protostomes and the deuterostomes and their rank varied from class to subphylum to phylum. Recent molecular studies supported by some morphological data indicate that Vestimentifera as well as Pogonophora s. str. (also named Perviata) are derived polychaete annelids. The present study comprises two objectives: 1) What is the relationship between vestimentiferans, pogonophorans and tubiculous polychaetes? 2) How are the vestimentiferan species (presently 12 species are known) related to each other? This study is restricted to morphological characters.
The species Ridgeia piscesae was examined by light and electron microscopy. The structure of the excretory system reveals a set of important characters. The musculature, nervous system and setal ultrastructure in the opisthosome were also found to be phylogenetically informative. The data are compared to existing data from polychaete and pogonophoran taxa and other vestimentiferan species. Datasets for both of the above mentioned analyses will be presented. Ultimately it is hoped that my results can be combined with existing molecular data to produce an overall picture of vestimentiferan phylogeny.
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