In June 1970, a diverse group of scientists attended the International Symposium on the Biology of the Sipuncula and Echiura at the Marine Biological Station in Kotor, Yugoslavia. Forty-two years later in June 2012, an aspiring generation of like-minded scientists convened the Second International Symposium on the Biology of the Sipuncula (ISBS2) along the banks of the Fort Pierce Inlet to the Indian River Lagoon in Florida, USA. The primary objective of the second symposium was to collect the world's dedicated sipunculan biologists in one place for a long overdue face-to-face communication of past, present and future research. We met our objective. This proceedings volume includes a brief summary of workshop discussions and field events, and a compilation of selected research papers presented by an international group of sixteen scientists from twelve nations in attendance at the ISBS2. Herein, we highlight molecular, developmental, morphological, ecological and biogeographic diversity of adult and larval sipunculans. And, we introduce several of the outstanding research challenges associated with resolving sipunculan interrelationships, establishing standard sets of taxonomic characters, refining methods for identification of cryptic species, reconstructing an evolutionary framework of developmental life history patterns, and addressing implications of recent phylogenetic and phylogenomic hypotheses that have relocated the ancient radiation of unsegmented sipunculan body plans within the predominantly segmented Annelida.--Provided by publisher.

In this Special Issue, we address the state of the art of the systematics of the main annelid groups and the improvements in the diversity they hold, with special emphasis on the latest discoveries in well-studied areas, expeditions to unsurveyed areas or environments, or the use of novel techniques that allow for the improvement of biodiversity knowledge. We are hoping that this Special Issue will provide a platform facilitating a review of current knowledge on the subject, identifying current research problems, as well as indicating directions and research trends for the future.

The Sipuncula, a group of ocean-dwelling worms related to annelids and mollusks, play a significant role in the bioerosion of coral reefs and are useful indicators of environmental conditions. The 155 species live in a wide variety of marine habitats at all depths, in sand and mud, in burrows in soft rock and dead coral, and inside such protective shelters as mollusk shells. Important food items for fish and invertebrate predators, they also recycle organic wastes and function as bioassay tools for human diseases such as cystic fibrosis and acute cholera. Edward B. Cutler brings together in this volume everything that is known about the entire phylum. An introduction, with practical information about collecting and handling the animals, is followed by Part One, which incorporates new systematic analyses made during the past twenty years and offers illustrated keys to all taxa, replacing the work of A.C. Stephen and S.J. Edmonds. Part Two reviews the past thirty years' work in such areas as ecology, muscular sysetms, blood chemistry, respiration, reproduction, and excretion. Part Three provides a new synthetic perspective on the phylum's zoogeography and evolutionary relationships, both to other phyla and within the phylum. It utilizes information from the fossil record, paleo-oceanographic data, and comparative studies of immunology, physiology, embryology, and anatomy.

The nervous system is particularly fascinating for many biologists because it controls animal characteristics such as movement, behavior, and coordinated thinking. Invertebrate neurobiology has traditionally been studied in specific model organisms, whilst knowledge of the broad diversity of nervous system architecture and its evolution among metazoan animals has received less attention. This is the first major reference work in the field for 50 years, bringing together many leading evolutionary neurobiologists to review the most recent research on the structure of invertebrate nervous systems and provide a comprehensive and authoritative overview for a new generation of researchers. Presented in full colour throughout, Structure and Evolution of Invertebrate Nervous Systems synthesizes and illustrates the numerous new findings that have been made possible with light and electron microscopy. These include the recent introduction of new molecular and optical techniques such as immunohistochemical staining of neuron-specific antigens and fluorescence in-situ-hybridization, combined with visualization by confocal laser scanning microscopy. New approaches to analysing the structure of the nervous system are also included such as micro-computational tomography, cryo-soft X-ray tomography, and various 3-D visualization techniques. The book follows a systematic and phylogenetic structure, covering a broad range of taxa, interspersed with chapters focusing on selected topics in nervous system functioning which are presented as research highlights and perspectives. This comprehensive reference work will be an essential companion for graduate students and researchers alike in the fields of metazoan neurobiology, morphology, zoology, phylogeny and evolution.

This book is the first in a series of 4 volumes in the Handbook of Zoology series about morphology, anatomy, reproduction, development, ecology, phylogeny and systematics of Annelida. This first volume covers members of the so-called basal radiation and the first part of Sedentaria. It is supplemented by chapters on the history of annelid research, their fossil record, and an introduction to the phylogeny of annelids and their position in the tree of life. In the latter chapter the history of their systematic is reviewed giving an almost complete picture of systematic-scientific progress especially in the past years which changed our view on annelid phylogeny dramatically. The most basal annelids, lately united as Palaeoannelida, represent two families of aberrant polychaetes formerly often suggested to be highly derived which now give us a fresh look on how the ancestral annelid may have looked like. These lack certain key characters such as nuchal organs and possess rather simple nervous systems which now likely represent primitive character states. In this basal radiation the first taxon of apparently unsegmented and achaetigerous animals is positioned, the Sipuncula. Most likely another group of platyhelminth-like and unsegmented and even chaeta-lees annelids, Lobatocerebridae falls into this basal radiation. The section of Sedentaria starts with Orbiniida, a taxon characterized by elongated, thread-like worms which do not have anterior appendages like palps and comprises several families representing members of the Meiofauna. These minute worms often inhabiting the interstitial spaces in marine sands are suggested to have evolved by progenesis. The second higher taxon is represented by Cirratuliformia comprising nine families of typical sedentary polychaetes each of which showing a remarkable variation of the annelid body plan. Members of this taxon usually exhibit many annelid characters but certain also lack the most typical prostomial appendages, the palps.

Annelids (the segmented worms) exist in a remarkably diverse range of mostly marine but also freshwater and terrestrial habitats, varying greatly in size and form. Annelida provides a fully updated and expanded taxonomic reference work which broadens the scope of the classic Polychaetes (OUP, 2001) to encompass wider groups including Clitellata (comprising more than a third of total annelid diversity), Sipuncula, and Thalassematidae (formerly Echiura). It reflects the enormous amount of research on these organisms that has burgeoned since the millennium, principally due to their use as model organisms to address wider and more general evolutionary and ecological questions. Beginning with a clear introduction to the phylum and an outline of annelid taxonomy, this authoritative text describes their collection, the methods to ensure their optimal preservation, and an overview of anatomy with its relevant terminology. The core of the work comprises 77 fully up-to-date taxonomic chapters, informed by anatomy and the latest molecular phylogenomic evidence and carefully organised based on a new, robust phylogenetic hypothesis. Lavishly illustrated throughout with hundreds of previously unpublished high-resolution colour images and SEM micrographs, the sheer beauty and diversity of the annelids is nowhere better presented. Annelida is the definitive reference work for annelid biologists, whilst being of interest to a broader audience of invertebrate zoologists, systematists, and organismal biologists.