Pantinonemertes agricola ( Willemoes­Suhm 1874 )

Jones, Hugh D. & Sterrer, Wolfgang, 2005, Terrestrial planarians (Platyhelminthes, with three new species) and nemertines of Bermuda, Zootaxa 1001 (1), pp. 31-58 : 48

Pantinonemertes agricola ( Willemoes­Suhm 1874)

This species was initially found under “stones which are scattered on drier land, where the cedar trees begin to dry” around Hungry Bay, Paget Parish ( Willemoes­Suhm 1874). A. E. Verrill in 1898 and 1901 found numerous individuals “well up on the side of the hill where the soil was comparatively dry” ( Coe 1904). Coe found it to be “widely distributed on the islands….and was common along the borders of several of the larger mangrove swamps”. He also found specimens on the shore “which is covered for a short time each day with sea water”. Coe (1904) gives a full anatomical description and color illustration. Crozier (1917) records specimens as occurring also “well below low water mark even at spring tides”, though Moore et al. (2001) comment that this may not have been the same species. During 1951, Brian Boden "organized a 'bring­'em­back­alive' expedition to Bailey's Bay" where he found them "mostly under rocks among the mangroves and some distance (about 20–40 yards) above high­tide level. The smaller ones were pink when alive, but the darker ones were dark grey" (letters to Dr. C.F.A. Pantin dated 19 August and 15 October 1951). "All these were indeed agricola " (Janet Moore, letter to WS, 10 September 1983). In 2003, HDJ searched the littoral and supralittoral in several apparently suitable localities, including Hungry Bay on two occasions. No specimens were found (but the following species was). It would appear that land development and building over the last 50 years has largely affected the habitat.