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Department of Natural History

Annelida

The annelid research at Department of Natural History is focused on biodiversity, systematics and evolution of marine species with special interest in the fauna of the North Atlantic and the Arctic Oceans.

diopatra
Diopatra sp. Oman.
Photo:
Nataliya Budaeva

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Annelids, or ring worms, often dominate in density, biomass and species richness in marine soft bottom communities playing an important role in marine ecosystems. Despite the long history of annelid research in the North Atlantic, many species remain undescribed with poorly understood distribution patterns and dispersal abilities. Our research on marine annelids focuses on biodiversity, systematics and phylogeny of the Nordic species, but also with world-wide revisions in certain groups. We extensively contribute to building a DNA barcode library for the North Atlantic and Arctic annelid fauna, from western Africa to the Barents Sea.

The annelid team includes Nataliya Budaeva, who is mostly working on the jaw-bearing families belonging to Eunicida, Jon A. Kongsrud, who oversees the annelid collection and has a deep knowledge of bamboo-worms (Maldanidae) as well as a good general knowledge of the Nordic annelid fauna, Tom Alvestad, who contributes to projects funded by the Norwegian Research Initiative and Mareano, with main interest in Ampharetidae, but also in general Nordic annelid fauna and Miguel A. Meca, who is currently conducting his PhD project on the systematics and evolution of Orbiniidae.

Our team hosts, on a regular basis, national and international guest scientists and students, who come to visit the museum’s annelid collection, inholding both type specimen, historical collections, and extensive materials from recent and ongoing expeditions.

Students are encouraged to contact Dr Nataliya Budaeva for possible MSc projects on marine annelids.