WoRMS taxon details
Alitta virens (M. Sars, 1835)
234851 (urn:lsid:marinespecies.org:taxname:234851)
accepted
Species
Neanthes virens (M. Sars, 1835) · unaccepted (superseded subsequent combination)
Nereis (Alitta) virens M Sars, 1835 · unaccepted (superseded combination)
Nereis (Neanthes) paucidentata Treadwell, 1939 · unaccepted (subjective synonymy of a primary...)
subjective synonymy of a primary junior homonym
Nereis (Neanthes) varia Treadwell, 1941 · unaccepted (subjective synonymy of replacement name)
Nereis (Neanthes) virens Sars, 1835 · unaccepted (superseded combination)
Nereis virens Sars, 1835 · unaccepted (superseded original combination)
Nereis yankiana Quatrefages, 1866 · unaccepted (subjective synonym)
marine, brackish, fresh, terrestrial
recent only
(of Nereis virens Sars, 1835) Sars, M. (1835). Beskrivelser og Iagttagelser over nogle moerkelige eller nye i Havet ved den Bergenske Kyst levende Dyr af Polypernes, Acalephernes, Radiaternes, Annelidernes og Molluskernes classer, med en kort Oversigt over de hidtil af Forfatteren sammesteds fundne Arter og deres Forekommen. Thorstein Hallagers Forlag hos Chr. Dahl, R.S., Bergen, xii + 81 pp. + 15 pls., available online at https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.13017
page(s): 58-60, plate 10 figs. 27 a, b, c [details]
page(s): 58-60, plate 10 figs. 27 a, b, c [details]
Type locality contained in Norwegian Exclusive Economic Zone
type locality contained in Norwegian Exclusive Economic Zone [from synonym] [view taxon] [details]
Nomenclature An explanation to non-taxonomists that if you want to indicate a replaced old genus/species combination you say “Alitta...
Nomenclature An explanation to non-taxonomists that if you want to indicate a replaced old genus/species combination you say “Alitta virens (formerly Nereis virens)". It is wrong to use the construction of "Alitta (Nereis) virens". This is because “Nereis” is the name of a very well-known valid genus with hundreds of species, whereas Alitta is a more recent obscure genus which has a only a handful of species. If you put Nereis in parenthesis between the genus name Alitta and the species name it means that you think that Nereis is a subgenus of Alitta. That is the way a subgenus is indicated. Every biologist knows this simple convention (or should know it). However, it is impossible to have Nereis as a subgenus of Alitta since Nereis is the senior name by over a century. A senior name has priority as the genus name and cannot be a subgenus of a junior one. So Alitta can be (and once was) a subgenus of Nereis, but Nereis can never be a subgenus of Alitta. In any case they are today regarded as very different genera. [details]
Read, G.; Fauchald, K. (Ed.) (2025). World Polychaeta Database. Alitta virens (M. Sars, 1835). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=234851 on 2025-07-06
The webpage text is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution 4.0 License
Nomenclature
original description
(of Nereis virens Sars, 1835) Sars, M. (1835). Beskrivelser og Iagttagelser over nogle moerkelige eller nye i Havet ved den Bergenske Kyst levende Dyr af Polypernes, Acalephernes, Radiaternes, Annelidernes og Molluskernes classer, med en kort Oversigt over de hidtil af Forfatteren sammesteds fundne Arter og deres Forekommen. Thorstein Hallagers Forlag hos Chr. Dahl, R.S., Bergen, xii + 81 pp. + 15 pls., available online at https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.13017
page(s): 58-60, plate 10 figs. 27 a, b, c [details]
original description (of Nereis yankiana Quatrefages, 1866) Quatrefages, A. de. (1866 (1865)). Histoire naturelle des Annelés marins et d'eau douce. Annélides et Géphyriens. <em>Librarie Encyclopédique de Roret. Paris.</em> <b>Volume 1.</b> 1-588., available online at http://books.google.com/books?id=FV9IAAAAYAAJ
page(s): 553-554, plate 17 figs. 7-8 [details]
original description (of Nereis (Neanthes) paucidentata Treadwell, 1939) Treadwell, Aaron L. (1939). New polychaetous annelids from New England, Texas and Puerto Rico. <em>American Museum Novitates.</em> 1023: 1-7., available online at http://hdl.handle.net/2246/4821
page(s): 6, fig. 25; note: primary homonym later replaced by Treadwell (1941) with new name Nereis (Neanthes) varia [details] Available for editors
[request]
original description (of Nereis (Neanthes) varia Treadwell, 1941) Treadwell, Aaron L. (1941). Polychaetous annelids from the New England region, Porto Rico and Brazil. <em>American Museum Novitates.</em> 1138: 1-4., available online at http://hdl.handle.net/2246/4787
page(s): 3; note: brief note replacing preoccupied Nereis (Neanthes) paucidentata with N (N) varia [details] Available for editors [request]
page(s): 58-60, plate 10 figs. 27 a, b, c [details]
original description (of Nereis yankiana Quatrefages, 1866) Quatrefages, A. de. (1866 (1865)). Histoire naturelle des Annelés marins et d'eau douce. Annélides et Géphyriens. <em>Librarie Encyclopédique de Roret. Paris.</em> <b>Volume 1.</b> 1-588., available online at http://books.google.com/books?id=FV9IAAAAYAAJ
page(s): 553-554, plate 17 figs. 7-8 [details]
original description (of Nereis (Neanthes) paucidentata Treadwell, 1939) Treadwell, Aaron L. (1939). New polychaetous annelids from New England, Texas and Puerto Rico. <em>American Museum Novitates.</em> 1023: 1-7., available online at http://hdl.handle.net/2246/4821
page(s): 6, fig. 25; note: primary homonym later replaced by Treadwell (1941) with new name Nereis (Neanthes) varia [details] Available for editors
[request]original description (of Nereis (Neanthes) varia Treadwell, 1941) Treadwell, Aaron L. (1941). Polychaetous annelids from the New England region, Porto Rico and Brazil. <em>American Museum Novitates.</em> 1138: 1-4., available online at http://hdl.handle.net/2246/4787
page(s): 3; note: brief note replacing preoccupied Nereis (Neanthes) paucidentata with N (N) varia [details] Available for editors
[request]Taxonomy
taxonomy source
Bakken, Torkild; Wilson, Robin S. (2005). Phylogeny of nereidids (Polychaeta, Nereididae) with paragnaths. <em>Zoologica Scripta.</em> 34(5): 507-547., available online at http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1463-6409.2005.00200.x
note: announce a detailed description of recently relocated type material is in preparation [details] Available for editors [request]
taxonomy source Villalobos-Guerrero, Tulio F.; Bakken, Torkild. (2018). Revision of the Alitta virens species complex (Annelida: Nereididae) from the North Pacific Ocean. <em>Zootaxa.</em> 4483(2): 201-257., available online at https://biotaxa.org/Zootaxa/article/view/zootaxa.4483.2.1 [details] Available for editors [request]
redescription Jirkov, I.A. (2001). [Polychaeta of the Arctic Ocean] (In Russian) Polikhety severnogo Ledovitogo Okeana. Yanus-K Press, Moscow, 632 pp., available online at https://www.researchgate.net/publication/259865957_Jirkov_2001_Polychaeta_of_the_North_Polar_Basin [details] Available for editors [request]
note: announce a detailed description of recently relocated type material is in preparation [details] Available for editors
[request]taxonomy source Villalobos-Guerrero, Tulio F.; Bakken, Torkild. (2018). Revision of the Alitta virens species complex (Annelida: Nereididae) from the North Pacific Ocean. <em>Zootaxa.</em> 4483(2): 201-257., available online at https://biotaxa.org/Zootaxa/article/view/zootaxa.4483.2.1 [details] Available for editors
[request]redescription Jirkov, I.A. (2001). [Polychaeta of the Arctic Ocean] (In Russian) Polikhety severnogo Ledovitogo Okeana. Yanus-K Press, Moscow, 632 pp., available online at https://www.researchgate.net/publication/259865957_Jirkov_2001_Polychaeta_of_the_North_Polar_Basin [details] Available for editors
[request]Other
context source (HKRMS)
Wang, J. J. & Huang, Z. G. (1994). Fouling polychaetes of Hong Kong and adjacent waters. In Asian Marine Biology 10 (ed. Morton, B.), PP1-12. Hong Kong University Press, Hong Kong. [details]
context source (Schelde) Maris, T., O. Beauchard, S. Van Damme, E. Van den Bergh, S. Wijnhoven & P. Meire. (2013). Referentiematrices en Ecotoopoppervlaktes Annex bij de Evaluatiemethodiek Schelde-estuarium Studie naar “Ecotoopoppervlaktes en intactness index”. [Reference matrices and Ecotope areas Annex to the Evaluation methodology Scheldt estuary Study on “Ecotope areas and intactness index”. <em>Monitor Taskforce Publication Series, 2013-01. NIOZ: Yerseke.</em> 35 pp. (look up in IMIS) [details]
additional source Malmgren, Anders Johan. (1865). Nordiska Hafs-Annulater. [part two of three]. <em>Öfversigt af Königlich Vetenskapsakademiens förhandlingar, Stockholm.</em> 22(2): 181-192., available online at https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/32339457
page(s): 183-184 [details]
context source (Schelde) Maris, T., O. Beauchard, S. Van Damme, E. Van den Bergh, S. Wijnhoven & P. Meire. (2013). Referentiematrices en Ecotoopoppervlaktes Annex bij de Evaluatiemethodiek Schelde-estuarium Studie naar “Ecotoopoppervlaktes en intactness index”. [Reference matrices and Ecotope areas Annex to the Evaluation methodology Scheldt estuary Study on “Ecotope areas and intactness index”. <em>Monitor Taskforce Publication Series, 2013-01. NIOZ: Yerseke.</em> 35 pp. (look up in IMIS) [details]
additional source Malmgren, Anders Johan. (1865). Nordiska Hafs-Annulater. [part two of three]. <em>Öfversigt af Königlich Vetenskapsakademiens förhandlingar, Stockholm.</em> 22(2): 181-192., available online at https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/32339457
page(s): 183-184 [details]
Present Present in aphia/obis/gbif/idigbio Inaccurate Introduced: alien Containing type locality
From editor or global species database
Nomenclature An explanation to non-taxonomists that if you want to indicate a replaced old genus/species combination you say “Alitta virens (formerly Nereis virens)". It is wrong to use the construction of "Alitta (Nereis) virens". This is because “Nereis” is the name of a very well-known valid genus with hundreds of species, whereas Alitta is a more recent obscure genus which has a only a handful of species. If you put Nereis in parenthesis between the genus name Alitta and the species name it means that you think that Nereis is a subgenus of Alitta. That is the way a subgenus is indicated. Every biologist knows this simple convention (or should know it). However, it is impossible to have Nereis as a subgenus of Alitta since Nereis is the senior name by over a century. A senior name has priority as the genus name and cannot be a subgenus of a junior one. So Alitta can be (and once was) a subgenus of Nereis, but Nereis can never be a subgenus of Alitta. In any case they are today regarded as very different genera. [details]Synonymy Current combination: Alitta virens (M. Sars, 1835)
The original name is Nereis virens Sars, 1835 (superseded original combination)
Other intermediate names are;
Nereis (Alitta) virens M. Sars, 1835 (superseded subsequent combination)
Neanthes virens (M. Sars, 1835) (superseded subsequent combination)
Nereis (Neanthes) virens M. Sars, 1835 (superseded subsequent combination)
WoRMS editors attempt to record first usages of each combination, but often with a much used name such as here, this will require more time to determine than is available. The Biodiversity Heritage Library can give some indication of the sequence of names, but mostly does not have literature beyond 1923.
[details]
| Language | Name | |
|---|---|---|
| Dutch | zager | [details] |
| English | sandwormking ragwormking rag worm [from synonym]king ragclam worm | [details] |
| German | Irisierender Seeringelwurmirisierende Seeringelwurm [from synonym]Grüner Seeringelwurm | [details] |
| Japanese | ジャムシ | [details] |
| Russian | Нереис зеленый | [details] |
To Barcode of Life (90 barcodes)
To Biodiversity Heritage Library (11 publications) (from synonym Neanthes virens (M. Sars, 1835))
To Biodiversity Heritage Library (3 publications) (from synonym Nereis (Neanthes) virens Sars, 1835)
To Biodiversity Heritage Library (318 publications) (from synonym Nereis virens Sars, 1835)
To Biodiversity Heritage Library (38 publications)
To Biological Information System for Marine Life (BISMaL) (from synonym Neanthes virens (M. Sars, 1835))
To Biological Information System for Marine Life (BISMaL)
To European Nucleotide Archive, ENA (Alitta virens)
To GenBank (3912 nucleotides; 125 proteins) (from synonym Nereis virens Sars, 1835)
To GenBank (3912 nucleotides; 125 proteins)
To GenBank (3912 nucleotides; 125 proteins) (from synonym Neanthes virens (M. Sars, 1835))
To Global Biotic Interactions (GloBI)
To PESI
To PESI (from synonym Neanthes virens (M. Sars, 1835))
To USNM Invertebrate Zoology Annelida Collection (1 record)
To USNM Invertebrate Zoology Annelida Collection (1 record) (from synonym Nereis (Neanthes) paucidentata Treadwell, 1939)
To Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History (YPM IZ 093447)
To Biodiversity Heritage Library (11 publications) (from synonym Neanthes virens (M. Sars, 1835))
To Biodiversity Heritage Library (3 publications) (from synonym Nereis (Neanthes) virens Sars, 1835)
To Biodiversity Heritage Library (318 publications) (from synonym Nereis virens Sars, 1835)
To Biodiversity Heritage Library (38 publications)
To Biological Information System for Marine Life (BISMaL) (from synonym Neanthes virens (M. Sars, 1835))
To Biological Information System for Marine Life (BISMaL)
To European Nucleotide Archive, ENA (Alitta virens)
To GenBank (3912 nucleotides; 125 proteins) (from synonym Nereis virens Sars, 1835)
To GenBank (3912 nucleotides; 125 proteins)
To GenBank (3912 nucleotides; 125 proteins) (from synonym Neanthes virens (M. Sars, 1835))
To Global Biotic Interactions (GloBI)
To PESI
To PESI (from synonym Neanthes virens (M. Sars, 1835))
To USNM Invertebrate Zoology Annelida Collection (1 record)
To USNM Invertebrate Zoology Annelida Collection (1 record) (from synonym Nereis (Neanthes) paucidentata Treadwell, 1939)
To Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History (YPM IZ 093447)
