Xenoturbella | |
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Xenoturbella japonica. The white arrowhead indicates the ring furrow. | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Xenacoelomorpha |
Subphylum: | Xenoturbellida Bourlat et al., 2006 |
Family: | Xenoturbellidae Westblad, 1949 |
Genus: | Xenoturbella Westblad, 1949[1][2] |
Species | |
See text |
Xenoturbella is a genus of very simple bilaterians up to a few centimeters long. It contains a small number of marine benthic worm-like species.[3]
The first known species (Xenoturbella bocki) was collected in 1878 and 1879 in the Gullmar fiord on the Swedish west coast by August Malm and is stored in the collection of the Gothenburg Natural History Museum.[4] A specimen is on display in the exhibition. It was collected again in the Gullmar fiord in 1915 by Sixten Bock, but it was only properly described in 1949 by Einar Westblad.[5] The type specimens are kept at the Swedish national museum of natural history in Stockholm.