Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gbm5v Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T21:57:02.424Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A new species of otoplanid (Plathelminthes: Rhabditophora: Otoplanidae) from Sicily, Italy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 June 2010

A. Lanfranchi ,
G. Meini  and
M. Melai
A. Lanfranchi*
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Biologia, Università di Pisa, Via Volta 6, 56126 Pisa, Italy
G. Meini
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Biologia, Università di Pisa, Via Volta 6, 56126 Pisa, Italy
M. Melai
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Biologia, Università di Pisa, Via Volta 6, 56126 Pisa, Italy
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: A. Lanfranchi, Dipartimanto di Biologia, Università di Pisa, via Volta 6, 56126 Pisa, Italy email: alanfranchi@biologia.unipi.it
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

A new species, Philosyrtis aegusae sp. nov., collected in the ‘Otoplanen-Zone’ of the sands of western Sicily, is described. The specimens show the typical morphological peculiarities of the subfamily Parotoplaninae (‘Turbellaria’: Otoplanidae), but differ clearly from the species already described. The body length of the sexually mature animals reaches 0.9–1.1 mm and they appear to belong to the genus Philosyrtis because of the general arrangement of testes and germo-vitellaria, and of the sclerotic apparatus. The vesicula granulorum is clearly distinct from the sclerotic apparatus unlike the other ten species belonging to the same genus. The male copulatory organ consists of a dorsal group of 7–8 spines similar in shape and length (33–40 mm), and a ventral group of at least 6 long thin spines with curved pointed tips. The new species differs from the already described species above all in its body dimensions, the shorter path of the vitellaries and especially the characteristics of the male sclerotic apparatus.

Keywords

otoplanidnew speciesflatwormsmeiofaunasclerotic apparatusvesicula granulorum
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 91 , Special Issue 2: Biodiversity and Taxonomy , March 2011 , pp. 383 - 386
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Ax, P. (1954) Die Turbellarienfauna des Küstengrundwassers am Finnischen Meerbusen. Acta Zoologica Fennica 81, 1–54.Google Scholar
Ax, P. and Ax, R. (1967) Turbellaria Proseriata von der Pazifikküste der USA (Washington). Zoologische Morphologie Tiere 61, 215–254.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ax, P. and Ax, R. (1974) Interstitielle Fauna von Galapagos. Mikrofauna des Meeresbodens 27, 585–589.Google Scholar
Giard, M.A. (1904) Sur une faunule caractéristique des sables à Diatomées d'Ambleteuse (Pas-de-Calais). III. Les Gastrotriches aberrants. Comptes Rendus des Sciences de la Société de Biologie 56, 1063–1065.Google Scholar
Lanfranchi, A. and Melai, M. (2008) Parotoplana rosignana sp. nov.: morphology, taxonomy and post-embryonal development of a new species of otoplanid (Plathelminthes, Rhabditophora, Proseriata). Italian Journal of Zoology 75, 197–206.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marcus, E. (1950) Turbellaria Brasileiros (8). Boletins de Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras. Universidade de Sâo Paulo. Zoologia 15, 63–65.Google Scholar
Martens, P.M. and Schockaert, E.R. (1981) Sand dwelling Turbellaria from the Netherlands Delta area. Hydrobiologia 84, 117–118.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Noreña, C., Damborenea, C. and Brusa, F. (2005) New freshwater interstitial Otoplanidae (Plathelminthes: Proseriata) from the Paraná and Uruguay rivers, South America. Journal of Natural History 39, 1462–1468.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Remane, A. (1933) Verteilung und Organisation der benthonischen Mikrofauna der Kieler Bucht. Wissenschaftliche Meeresuntersuchungen (N.F.), Abteilung Kiel 21, 161–221.Google Scholar
Sopott, B. (1972) Systematik und Ökologie von Proseriaten (Turbellaria) der deutschen Nordseeküste. Mikrofauna des Meeresbodens 13, 227–229.Google Scholar
Sopott-Ehlers, B. (1976) Interstitielle Macrostomida und Proseriata (Turbellaria) von der französischen Atlantikküste und den kanarischen Inseln. Mikrofauna des Meeresbodens 60, 563–565.Google Scholar
Sopott-Ehlers, B. (1985) Zwei neue Proseriata (Plathelminthes) von der französischen Atlantikküste. Microfauna Marina 2, 393–395.Google Scholar