Flotidae
Family of annelids
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Flotidae is a family of pelagic polychaete worms, sometimes synonymized with Flabelligeridae, which they closely resemble. Other sources consider them the sister taxon to Flabelligeridae and closely allied to the latter group.[1][2]
| Flotidae | |
|---|---|
| |
| Buskiella abyssorum | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Annelida |
| Clade: | Pleistoannelida |
| Clade: | Sedentaria |
| Order: | Terebellida |
| Family: | Flotidae Buzhinskaja, 1996 |
| Genera | |
| |
Taxonomy
Flotidae originally contained one genus, Flota, from which it derives its name, but a 2007 study also placed Buskiella in the family, and moved all (two) Flota species to Buskiella.[3][4][1] The family would thus contains one genus and three species, listed below.
- Buskiella abyssorum McIntoch, 1885
- Buskiella flabelligera (Hartman, 1967) formerly Flota flabelligera
- Buskiella vitjasi (Buzhinskaja, 1977) formerly Flota vitjasi
Similarities and differences with Flabelligeridae
A 2008 paper analyzing the phylogenetics of flotid polychaetes found that flotids are nested within Flabelligeridae.[1] However, defenders of the separate family status of Flotidae cite several morphological differences.[5]