Phylogenetic position of phylum Nemertini, inferred from 18S rRNA sequences: molecular data as a test of morphological character homology.

Partial 18S rRNA sequence of the nemertine Cerebratulus lacteus was obtained and compared with those of coelomate metazoans and acoelomate platyhelminths to test whether nemertines share a most recent common ancestor with the platyhelminths, as traditionally has been implied, or whether nemertines lie within a protostome coelomate clade, as suggested by more recent morphological analyses. Maximum-parsimony analysis supports the inclusion of the nemertine within a protostome-coelomate clade that falls within a more inclusive coelomate clade. Bootstrap analysis indicates strong support for a monophyletic Coelomata composed of a deuterostome and protostome-coelomate clade. Support for a monophyletic protostome Coelomata is weak. Inference by distance analysis is consistent with that of maximum parsimony. Analysis of down-weighted paired sites by maximum parsimony reveals variation in topology only within the protostome-coelomate clade. The relationships among the protostome coelomates cannot be reliably inferred from the partial sequences, suggesting that coelomate protostomes diversified rapidly. Results with evolutionary parsimony are consistent with the inclusion of the nemertine in a coelomate clade. The molecular inference corroborates recent morphological character analyses that reveal no synapomorphies of nemertines and flatworms but instead suggest that the circulatory system and rhynchocoel of nemertines are homologous to coelomic cavities of protostome coelomates, thus supporting the corresponding hypothesis that nemertines belong within a protostome-coelomate clade. The sequence data provide an independent test of morphological character homology.