Sonnenemertes Chernyshev et al., 2015: 121

Kajihara, Hiroshi, Abukawa, Shushi & Chernyshev, Alexei V., 2022, Exploring the basal topology of the heteronemertean tree of life: establishment of a new family, along with turbotaxonomy of Valenciniidae (Nemertea: Pilidiophora: Heteronemertea), Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 196, pp. 503-548 : 518

Sonnenemertes Chernyshev et al., 2015: 121 .

Type species: Sonnenemertes cantelli Chernyshev et al., 2015 , fixed by original designation.

Diagnosis: Given by Chernyshev et al. (2015: 121).

SONNENEMERTES CANTELLI CHERNYSHEV ET AL., 2015

Sonnenemertes cantelli Chernyshev et al., 2015: 121– 126 , figs1C, D, 2A–N, 3A–H, 4A–G, 5A–I; Chernyshev & Polyakova, 2018: 122, figs 1C, 4C, D, 5.

Material sequenced: A tissue subsample from the holotype, MIMB 28684 , 3 August 2012, about 400 km south of the Kamchatka Peninsula (46°13.69′– 46°14.87′N, 155°33.29′– 155°32.49′E), north-west Pacific, Agassiz trawl, 4869– 4861 m depth, station 2-11 of the KuramBio expedition with the S/ V Sonne , collected by A. V. Chernyshev .

Sequences: From the holotype: LC178609 , 18S (1795 bp); LC178642 , 28S (2094 bp); LC190963 , COI (658 bp) (determined in this study). AB921565 , 16S (505 bp), determined by Chernyshev et al. (2015), also from the holotype .

Distribution: Known from depths of 3306–4861 m around the Kuril Islands in the Sea of Okhotsk and the north-west Pacific ( Chernyshev et al., 2015; Chernyshev & Polyakova, 2018).

Remarks: Sonnenemertes cantelli is ‘ 12–14 mm long, cylindrical and stout, with rounded anterior and posterior ends, without caudal cirrus; body yellowish in anterior part and pinkish in gut region’ ( Chernyshev & Polyakova, 2018: 124). The species seems to feed on sipunculans (see Potential food items below).