Deep-Sea name details
Nereis longissima Johnston, 1840
146928 (urn:lsid:marinespecies.org:taxname:146928)
unaccepted (superseded original combination)
Species
marine, brackish, fresh, terrestrial
recent only
Johnston, G. (1840). Miscellanea Zoologica. [Continued from vol. iv. p. 375.] Contributions towards a history of Irish Annelids (1). <em>Annals of Natural History; or, Magazine of Zoology, Botany, and Geology.</em> 5: 168-179, 9 text-figures., available online at https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/2248020
page(s): 178-179, fig. 9; note: description of an epitoke [details]
page(s): 178-179, fig. 9; note: description of an epitoke [details]
Type locality contained in Irish Exclusive economic Zone
, Note Coast of County Down, Northern Ireland, Irish...
type locality contained in Irish Exclusive economic Zone [details]
From editor or global species database
Type locality Coast of County Down, Northern Ireland, Irish Sea, NE Atlantic (gazetteer estimate 54.2º, -5.6º), possibly collected near Belfast where the collector who supplied the worms lived. [details]
Etymology The specific epithet longissima (masculine: longissimus) is a Latin adjective meaning 'very long' or 'longest', and refers...
Homonymy Nereis longissima Johnston, 1840 is junior secondary homonym to Nereis longissima (Savigny, 1822). This placement as a...
Etymology The specific epithet longissima (masculine: longissimus) is a Latin adjective meaning 'very long' or 'longest', and refers to the length of the species: ''The specimen before me is of the extraordinary length of two feet! but as it has become very soft in the spirits, it would perhaps not much exceed 18 inches when alive'' (Johnston, 1840: 178). [details]
Homonymy Nereis longissima Johnston, 1840 is junior secondary homonym to Nereis longissima (Savigny, 1822). This placement as a...
Homonymy Nereis longissima Johnston, 1840 is junior secondary homonym to Nereis longissima (Savigny, 1822). This placement as a secondary homonym assumes Johnston was newly naming N. longissima (it cannot be proved otherwise - see note on authority). However, as N. longissima Johnston was moved to Eunereis and N. longissima (Savigny) is likely to be a nomen oblitum, unused since the cutoff date of 1899, the Johnston name as recombined is valid. [details]
Read, G.; Fauchald, K. (Ed.) (2025). World Polychaeta Database. Nereis longissima Johnston, 1840. Accessed through: Glover, A.G.; Higgs, N.; Horton, T. (2025) World Register of Deep-Sea species (WoRDSS) at: https://www.marinespecies.org/DeepSea/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=146928 on 2026-01-17
Glover, A.G.; Higgs, N.; Horton, T. (2026). World Register of Deep-Sea species (WoRDSS). Nereis longissima Johnston, 1840. Accessed at: https://www.marinespecies.org/Deepsea/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=146928 on 2026-01-17
Date
action
by
original description
Johnston, G. (1840). Miscellanea Zoologica. [Continued from vol. iv. p. 375.] Contributions towards a history of Irish Annelids (1). <em>Annals of Natural History; or, Magazine of Zoology, Botany, and Geology.</em> 5: 168-179, 9 text-figures., available online at https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/2248020
page(s): 178-179, fig. 9; note: description of an epitoke [details]
taxonomy source McIntosh, William Carmichael. (1910). A monograph of the British annelids. Polychaeta. Syllidae to Ariciidae. <em>Ray Society of London.</em> 2(2): 233-524., available online at https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/38533042
page(s): 325; note: includes a comprehensive synonymy, separate for atokes and epitokes [details]
taxonomy source Chambers, S. and Garwood, P. (1992). Polychaetes from Scottish waters. A guide to identification: Part 3 Family Nereidae. National Museums of Scotland, 1-73.
page(s): 35, figure 44; note: description based on specimens from St Andrews etc, reporting paragnaths only in group VI, where 1-8 may be found in each group; but some individuals have small numbers of paragnaths in groups I, II, ...
[details]
context source (Deepsea) Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO. The Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS), available online at http://www.iobis.org/ [details]
additional source Johnston, G. (1865). A catalogue of the British non-parasitical worms in the collection of the British Museum. <em>[book].</em> 1-365. British Museum. London. [See also separate entry for Baird supplement]., available online at http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/12291
page(s): 164, figure 33; note: Johnston largely repeats his 1840 description and it is the same single specimen that he describes. [details]
page(s): 178-179, fig. 9; note: description of an epitoke [details]
taxonomy source McIntosh, William Carmichael. (1910). A monograph of the British annelids. Polychaeta. Syllidae to Ariciidae. <em>Ray Society of London.</em> 2(2): 233-524., available online at https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/38533042
page(s): 325; note: includes a comprehensive synonymy, separate for atokes and epitokes [details]
taxonomy source Chambers, S. and Garwood, P. (1992). Polychaetes from Scottish waters. A guide to identification: Part 3 Family Nereidae. National Museums of Scotland, 1-73.
page(s): 35, figure 44; note: description based on specimens from St Andrews etc, reporting paragnaths only in group VI, where 1-8 may be found in each group; but some individuals have small numbers of paragnaths in groups I, II, ...
description based on specimens from St Andrews etc, reporting paragnaths only in group VI, where 1-8 may be found in each group; but some individuals have small numbers of paragnaths in groups I, II, IV
context source (Deepsea) Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO. The Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS), available online at http://www.iobis.org/ [details]
additional source Johnston, G. (1865). A catalogue of the British non-parasitical worms in the collection of the British Museum. <em>[book].</em> 1-365. British Museum. London. [See also separate entry for Baird supplement]., available online at http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/12291
page(s): 164, figure 33; note: Johnston largely repeats his 1840 description and it is the same single specimen that he describes. [details]
Present Inaccurate Introduced: alien Containing type locality
From editor or global species database
Authority In his 1840 article Johnston does not indicate when taxa are new names. There is a prior Nereis longissima, a combination created by Blainville (1825: 443) for the enigmatic Myriana longissima Savigny 1822. However, while Johnston's text suggests Nereis longissima is not new, there is also no evidence that he is adopting Savigny's name. In 1865 Johnston (p.165) gives himself the authorship (as Heteronereis longissima). As the earlier name of Savigny's is a nomen dubium it seems least disruptive to continue with Johnston as the author of the name, rather than to change the authority to "sensu Johnston, 1840", although the possibility remains he is not the original author. McIntosh (1910: 329) writes that “This species was first described by Dr. Johnston … It is true that de Blainville mentions Nereis longissima Savigny, but no reference to this form occurs in Savigny’s ‘System’”. However, this is not true, and suprisingly McIntosh did not make the connection to Myriana longissima, to which Blainville, who included a variety of taxa in Nereididae, had given the page number (but not the genus name) as in Savigny. However, as it cannot be proved the names of Savigny and Johnston are related (i.e., Johnston's descended from Savigny's), this then means they are homonyms when combined in Nereis and Johnston's name is junior. [details]Etymology The specific epithet longissima (masculine: longissimus) is a Latin adjective meaning 'very long' or 'longest', and refers to the length of the species: ''The specimen before me is of the extraordinary length of two feet! but as it has become very soft in the spirits, it would perhaps not much exceed 18 inches when alive'' (Johnston, 1840: 178). [details]
Homonymy Nereis longissima Johnston, 1840 is junior secondary homonym to Nereis longissima (Savigny, 1822). This placement as a secondary homonym assumes Johnston was newly naming N. longissima (it cannot be proved otherwise - see note on authority). However, as N. longissima Johnston was moved to Eunereis and N. longissima (Savigny) is likely to be a nomen oblitum, unused since the cutoff date of 1899, the Johnston name as recombined is valid. [details]
Specimen Johnston (1840: 178) had one 18 inch epitokous specimen which lacked proboscis paragnaths. Later in his 1865 book he reports this specimen again, this time as Heteronereis longissima from the coast of Ireland (perhaps near Belfast). It seems probable that Johnston knew that a 'Heteronereis' was just the reproductive morph of many nereidid genera, so it is unclear why he used the name as a valid genus in 1865 (probably discussed earlier, however, Ehlers made the formal synonymy of Heteronereis to Nereis slightly later in 1868). [details]
Type locality Coast of County Down, Northern Ireland, Irish Sea, NE Atlantic (gazetteer estimate 54.2º, -5.6º), possibly collected near Belfast where the collector who supplied the worms lived. [details]
