Morphological and molecular study on Yininemertes pratensis (Nemertea, Pilidiophora, Heteronemertea) from the Han River Estuary, South Korea, and its phylogenetic position within the family Lineidae

Abstract

Outbreaks of ribbon worms observed in 2013, 2015, and 2017–2019 in the Han River Estuary, South Korea, have caused damage to local glass-eel fisheries. The Han River ribbon worms have been identified as Yininemertes pratensis (Sun & Lu, 1998) based on not only morphological characteristics compared with the holotype and paratype specimens, but also DNA sequence comparison with topotypes freshly collected near the Yangtze River mouth, China. Using sequences of six gene markers (18S rRNA, 28S rRNA, histone H3, histone H4, 16S rRNA, and COI), the phylogenetic position of Y. pratensis was inferred among other heteronemerteans based on their sequences obtained from public databases. This analysis firmly placed Y. pratensis as a close relative to Apatronemertes albimaculosa Wilfert & Gibson, 1974, which has been reported from aquarium tanks containing tropical freshwater plants in various parts of the world as well as a wild environment in Panama.