Research Zoologist, Curator of Worms
National Museum of Natural History
Smithsonian Institution
PO Box 37012
MRC 163
Washington, D.C. 20013-7012
norenburg.jon@nmnh.si.edu
Research Interests
Morphological and molecular phylogeny, phylogeography, biogeography and functional
anatomy of nemertean worms, worldwide; biology and zoogeography of soft-bodied
marine interstitial fauna.
See home page above for expanded description.
Current Research Projects
1. NSF-PEET project: Bringing Nemertean Research into the 21st century. Includes
training of new students and postdocs, and developing a web-based, nemertean
digital knowledge base.
2. A molecular phylogeny of nemerteans based on combined analysis of morphology
and nucleotide sequence data from five genes.
3. Taxonomy, molecular phylogeography, and co-evolution of Carcinonemertes,
egg predators and ectosymbionts of crabs and other crustaceans.
4. Phylogeny and phylogeography of the specialized mesopsammic group of nemerteans,
the Ototyphlonemertidae.
5. Phylogeography of the most common North Atlantic temperate rocky shore nemerteans
and implications for distribution of North Atlantic fauna.
6. Taxonomy and systematics of deep-sea pelagic nemerteans.
Recent Publications
Thollesson, M. & J.L. Norenburg. 2003. Ribbon worm relationships – A phylogeny of the phylum Nemertea. Proc. Roy. Soc. Lon., B 270:407-415.
Ivanov, V.A., G. Bigatti, P. E. Penchaszadeh & J.L. Norenburg. 2002. Malacobdella arrokeana (Nemertea, Bdellonemertea), a new species of nemertean from the Southwestern Atlantic Ocean entocommensal in Panopea abbreviata (Bivalvia, Heterodonta, Hiatellidae) in Argentina. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 115:359-367.
Norenburg, J.L. & S.A. Stricker. 2001. Phylum Nemertea. Pp. 163-177 in C.M. Young, M. Rice & M.A. Sewell, Atlas of Marine Invertebrate Larvae, Academic Press.
Envall, M. & J.L. Norenburg. 2001. Morphology and phylogenetics in mesopsammic nemerteans of the genus Ototyphlonemertes (Nemertea, Hoplonemertea, Ototyphlonemertidae). Hydrobiologia 456:145-163.
Maslakova, S. & J.L. Norenburg. 2001. Phylogenetic study of pelagic nemerteans (Pelagica, Polystilifera). Hydrobiologia 456:111-132.
Roe, P. & J.L. Norenburg. 2001. Morphology and taxonomic distribution of a newly discovered feature, postero-lateral glands, in pelagic nemerteans. Hydrobologia 456:133-144.
Schwartz, M. & J.L. Norenburg. 2001. Can we infer heteronemertean phylogeny from available morphological data? Hydrobiologia 456:165-174.
Stricker, S.A., T.L. Smythe, L. Miller, & J.L. Norenburg. 2001. Comparative biology of oogenesis in nemertean worms. Acta Zoologica 82: 213-230.
Roe, P. & J.L. Norenburg. 1999. Observations on depth distributions, diversity and abundance of pelagic nemerteans from the Pacific Ocean off California and Hawaii.—DeepSea Research I 46:1201-1220.\
Norenburg, J.L. & P. Roe. 1998. Reproductive biology of several species of recently collected pelagic nemerteans.—Hydrobiologia 365:73-91.