Rediscovery and augmented description of the HMS Challenger acorn worm (Hemichordata, Enteropneusta), <I>Glandiceps abyssicola</I>, in the equatorial Atlantic abyss

Abstract

A 2009 oceanographic expedition of the Russian Academy of Sciences collected the anterior region of a single acorn worm (phylum Hemichordata, class Enteropneusta) by trawling at a depth of 5560 m in the Romanche Trench (equatorial Atlantic). The specimen was a ripe female with numerous, relatively small oocytes in each ovary. Phylogenetic analysis of rDNA sequences robustly placed the worm in the family Spengelidae. In addition, morphological features of the proboscis, collar, and anterior trunk region indicated that the worm was Glandiceps abyssicola, a species previously represented solely by the holotype, which had been dredged from the equatorial Atlantic in 1873 by the HMS Challenger and subsequently sent to Germany for description by Spengel (1893). The holotype was presumably destroyed by World War II bombing; therefore, we here designate the Romanche Trench specimen as the neotype of G. abyssicola and supply an augmented species diagnosis.