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Ptychodera flava

Yellow Acorn-Worm

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Image:	Adult, Southern Cooks Islands	18KB

General Information

COMMON NAMES: Yellow Acorn-Worm

GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION: NATIVE e.Africa - Pacific - Cook Islands - Hawai‘i

COOK ISLANDS STATUS: Native; Marine, near-shore, mudflats

KEY FEATURES: Yellow, to 30cm, with a short acorn-like head. Behind the head there is a long collar, followed by the trunk. The "acorn" is the digging-nose (=proboscis) and the mouth is immediately behind the proboscis.

Cook Islands Distribution

View Distribution Map

Southern Group: Present Makatea:
RR	MG	AT	MK	MT	AK	PL	TK	MN
					P

Northern Group:
TN	MH	RK	PK	NS	SW

Key to Symbols

blank	no data
-	absent	L	localised
X	extinct 'naturally'	W	widespread
XQi	quarantine intercepted	R	recent
XQe	eradicated	?	query preceding category
P	present	T?	taxonomic query
S	seasonal	nn	present, said to have no name
O	occasional	?1	present, name not investigated
++++	very common	?2	presence not verified, no name recorded
+++	common	N/A	absent, name not expected
++	uncommon
+	rare
Cook Islands islands: RR =Rarotonga, MG = Mangaia, AT =‘Ātiu, MK=Ma‘uke, MT=Miti‘āro, AK=Aitutaki, PL=Palmerston, PN=Penrhyn, MN=Manuae, TK=Takūtea, TN=Tongareva (TS=Tongaleva Spoken, TW=Tongareva Written, they say "el" but write "r"), MH=Manihiki, RK=Rakahanga, PK=Pukapuka, NS=Nassau, SW=Suwarrow. After a Polynesian name: ^=orthography query. Countries and other: FIJ=Fiji, WT=Wallis & Futuna, SAM=Samoa, TON=Tonga, NIU=Niue, CK=Cook Islands, CKM=Cook Islands Māori, FP=French Polynesia, AUS=Australs, SOC=Societies, TAH=Tahiti, TUA=Tuamotus, MQS=Marquesas, MNG=Mangareva, PIT=Pitcain group, EAS=Easter Island, HAW=Hawai‘i, NZ=New Zealand, NZM=New Zealand Māori

Scientific Taxonomy

Ptychodera flava Eschscholtz, 1835
TAXONOMY: ANIMALIA; HEMICHORDATA; ENTEROPNEUSTA; PTYCHODERIDAE

More Information

GENERAL NOTE: This animal is related to the animals which bridged the evolutionary gap between the animals without-backbones (=Invertebrates) and animals with-backbones (vertebrates). As a result, this worm-like creature, and its larval development, have been intensely studied by scientists.

Vouchers & References

Vouchers:
None Recorded.

References:
None recorded.

Data Update History (information):
zTX, zB02, zM02, zD02

Web Resources

Citation Information

McCormack, Gerald (2007) Cook Islands Biodiversity Database, Version 2007.2. Cook Islands Natural Heritage Trust, Rarotonga. Online at http://cookislands.bishopmuseum.org.
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