Morphological comparison of Lophotaspis from freshwater mollusks and turtles in Japan and China, with the correction of original description of Lophotaspis orientalis Faust and Tang, 1936 (Aspidogastrea: Aspidogasteridae)

Abstract

The morphology of a type specimen of Lophotaspis orientalis Faust and Tang, 1936 (Aspidogastrea: Aspidogasteridae) was compared with the morphology of the original description of L. corbiculae Moriya, 1944 and of newly collected specimens from Corbicula species in China and Japan. The original description of L. orientalis was revised by the re-examination of the type specimen. Consequently, some key characteristics of these two species described by Moriya (1944) became invalid. The gonad size of the L. orientalis type specimen was out of the range of all other investigated specimens and past records, suggesting that the L. orientalis type specimen (host: soft-shell turtle) is a different species from the other investigated specimens (host: freshwater clam).