Phylogenetic Relationships among Higher Nemertean (Nemertea) Taxa Inferred from 18S rDNA Sequences

We estimated the phylogenetic relationships of 15 nemertean (phylum Nemertea) species from the four subclasses Hoplo-, Hetero-, Palaeo-, and Bdellonemertea with 18S rDNA sequence data. Three outgroup taxa were used for rooting: Annelida, Platyhelminthes, and Mollusca. Parsimony and maximum-likelihood analyses supported the monophyletic status of the Heteronemertea and a taxon consisting of hoplonemerteans and Bdellonemertea, while indicating that Palaeonemertea is paraphyletic. The monophyletic status of the two nemertean classes Anopla and Enopla is not supported by the data. The unambiguous clades are well supported, as assessed by a randomization test (bootstrapping) and branch support values.