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Polychaeta name detailsNereis noctiluca Linnaeus, 1758
329705 (urn:lsid:marinespecies.org:taxname:329705)
unaccepted (synonymized although the senior name)
Species
marine,
recent only
Linnaeus, C. (1758). Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Tomus I. Editio decima, reformata. Laurentii Salvii. Holmiae [Stockholm]. [iii] + 824 pp. , available online at https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/726886
page(s): 654 [details] Available for editors  [request]
Type locality contained in Swedish Exclusive Economic Zone
type locality contained in Swedish Exclusive Economic Zone [details]
From editor or global species database
Type locality In all oceans according to Linnaeus! He does not specify Swedish seas. However, as he included the species in his 1761 'Fauna Suecica' we can safely assume the species occurs on the Swedish coast. [details]
Description Original description (Linnaeus, 1758) "Dwells in every sea easily, rendering the waters fiery, as it were, very small,...
Description Original description (Linnaeus, 1758) "Dwells in every sea easily, rendering the waters fiery, as it were, very small, invisible to the naked eye" translated from "Habitat in omni facile mari , aquas ignitas quasi redens ipsa prae parvitate nudis oculis inconspicua." [details] Status Linnaeus (1758) appears to be recording a bioluminescent worm. This would not be a nereidid as they are not capable of...
Status Linnaeus (1758) appears to be recording a bioluminescent worm. This would not be a nereidid as they are not capable of bioluminescence. His synonymy refers back to Noctiluca marina, the title of a thesis written by student Carolus Frid. Adler, in the third volume (1756) of Linnaeus's compilation of student theses "Amoenitates Academici seu dissertationes variae physica" where Adler gives a figure of a worm as plate 3. Adler's text is incomprehensible, and is not a description, so without the figure Nereis noctiluca would be a nomen dubium. The worm figured is not a nereidid, but could be a syllid. 19th C taxonomists placed Nereis noctiluca under Odontosyllis fulgurans, as did McIntosh in his British Annelids syllid monograph, although the Linnaean name of 1758 has priority. McIntosh (1908) includes Nereis noctiluca in a thorough synonymy of Odontosyllis fulgurans, and cites usages of the Nereis name by Pennant, Turton, and Stewart, as well as in editions of Systema Naturae [details]
Read, G.; Fauchald, K. (Ed.) (2025). World Polychaeta Database. Nereis noctiluca Linnaeus, 1758. Accessed at: https://www.marinespecies.org/polychaeta/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=329705 on 2026-08-09
Date action by
original description
Linnaeus, C. (1758). Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Tomus I. Editio decima, reformata. Laurentii Salvii. Holmiae [Stockholm]. [iii] + 824 pp. , available online at https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/726886
page(s): 654 [details] Available for editors [request]additional source Linnaeus, C. (1761). Fauna Suecica sistens Animalia Sueciae Regni: Distributa per Classes, Ordines, Genera, Species, cum Differentiis Specierum, Synonymis Auctorum, Nominibus Incolarum, Locis Natalium, [The Swedish Fauna containing the Animals of the Kingdom of Sweden: Distributed by Classes, Orders, Genera, Species, with Differences of Species, Synonyms of Authors, Names of Inhabitants, Places of Birth,]Descriptionibus insectorum. <em>Editio altera, auctior. Stockholmiae, Stockhom, Sweden.</em> 48:1-578. [Copepoda Monoculus, :497-499]., available online at http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/100333 [details]  additional source Fabricius, O. (1780). Fauna Groenlandica, systematice sistens animalia groenlandiae occidentalis hactenus indagata, quoad nomen specificium, triviale, vernaculumque, synonyma auctorum plurimum, descriptionem, locum, victum, generationem, mores, usum capturamque singuli, pro ut detegendi occasio fuit, maximaque parte secundum proprias observationes. [Fauna Greenland, systematically presenting the animals of Western Greenland so far investigated, as to the specific name, trivial, vernacular, synonyms of the authors for the most part, description, place, life, generation, manners, use and catch of each one, as there was an opportunity to discover, and for the most part according to personal observations.]. <em>Hafniae [= Copenhagen] & Lipsiae [= Leipzig], Ioannis Gottlob Rothe.</em> xvi + 452 pp., 1 pl., available online at https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/13442285 page(s): 291 [details] additional source Müller, O.F. (1776). Zoologiae Danicae Prodromus, seu Animalium Daniae et Norvegiae Indigenarum characters, nomina, et synonyma imprimis popularium. [Prodromus of Danish Zoology, or the characters, names, and synonyms of the indigenous animals of Denmark and Norway, especially of the popular ones.]. <em>Typis Hallageriis, Havniae.</em> 32: 1-282., available online at http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/47550 page(s): 217 [details] additional source Hartman, Olga. (1959). Catalogue of the Polychaetous Annelids of the World. Parts 1 and 2. <em>Allan Hancock Foundation Occasional Paper.</em> 23: 1-628. note: checklist listing. Hartman has the comment "not polychaete". This is incorrect. [details] Available for editors [request]additional source Linnaeus, Carolus [vol 6 on as Linne]. (1749-1769). Caroli Linnaei ... Amoenitates academicae, seu, Dissertationes variae physicae, medicae, botanicae :antehac seorsim editae : nunc collectae et auctae : cum tabulis aeneis. <em>[edited book].</em> vol 1-3: vol 1 1749, vol 2 1751, vol 3 1756, Holmiae ;et Lipsiae : Apud Godofredum Kiesewetter., available online at https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/910 page(s): volume 3, page 203, plate 3; note: plate 3 is the figure of 'Noctiluca marina' by student Carolus Frid. Adler, cited by Linnaeus when he renamed the worm Nereis noctiluca. [details] source of synonymy Audouin, Jean Victor; Milne Edwards, Henri. (1833). [Part 3.] Classification des Annélides et description de celles qui habitent les côtes de la France. <em>Annales des sciences naturelles, Paris.</em> (series 1) 29: 195-269., available online at https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/6044727 page(s): 229; note: In a synonymy of Syllis fulgurans the authors place Nereis noctiluca 1758 as a synonym of their Syllis fulgurans 1833. This ignores priority, but perhaps reflects uncertainty around the Linnaean name... In a synonymy of Syllis fulgurans the authors place Nereis noctiluca 1758 as a synonym of their Syllis fulgurans 1833. This ignores priority, but perhaps reflects uncertainty around the Linnaean name.
status source McIntosh, W. C. (1908). A monograph of British Annelids. <em>Ray Society of London, II. Part I. Polychaeta. Nephthydidae to Syllidae.</em> 2: 1-232., available online at http://www.archive.org/details/monographBritis2McInA page(s): 179; note: McIntosh includes Nereis noctiluca in a thorough synonymy of Odontosyllis fulgurans, and cites usages of the Nereis name by Pennant, Turton, and Stewart, as well as in editions of Systema Naturae [details]  Present Inaccurate Introduced: alien Containing type locality
From editor or global species database
Description Original description (Linnaeus, 1758) "Dwells in every sea easily, rendering the waters fiery, as it were, very small, invisible to the naked eye" translated from "Habitat in omni facile mari , aquas ignitas quasi redens ipsa prae parvitate nudis oculis inconspicua." [details]Identification Hartman catalogue (1959: 266) assigned this Nereis noctiluca name as "not polychaete" but this is incorrect (she also has the date as 1761, not 1758). As Linnaeus in 1758 & 1761 cited a plate in the 1756 volume of Amoenitates academicae, which clearly shows a polychaete, probably a syllid, later taxonomists (eg McIntosh 1908) had no trouble matching this figure to Odontosyllis fulgurans. [details] Status Linnaeus (1758) appears to be recording a bioluminescent worm. This would not be a nereidid as they are not capable of bioluminescence. His synonymy refers back to Noctiluca marina, the title of a thesis written by student Carolus Frid. Adler, in the third volume (1756) of Linnaeus's compilation of student theses "Amoenitates Academici seu dissertationes variae physica" where Adler gives a figure of a worm as plate 3. Adler's text is incomprehensible, and is not a description, so without the figure Nereis noctiluca would be a nomen dubium. The worm figured is not a nereidid, but could be a syllid. 19th C taxonomists placed Nereis noctiluca under Odontosyllis fulgurans, as did McIntosh in his British Annelids syllid monograph, although the Linnaean name of 1758 has priority. McIntosh (1908) includes Nereis noctiluca in a thorough synonymy of Odontosyllis fulgurans, and cites usages of the Nereis name by Pennant, Turton, and Stewart, as well as in editions of Systema Naturae [details] Type locality In all oceans according to Linnaeus! He does not specify Swedish seas. However, as he included the species in his 1761 'Fauna Suecica' we can safely assume the species occurs on the Swedish coast. [details] From editor or global species database
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