Ventral Testes Research Articles

Convergent evolution: A new subfamily for bipaliin‐like Chilean land planarians (platyhelminthes)

AbstractThe monotypic genus of land planarians Timyma (Rhynchodeminae, Geoplanidae) has been suggested to be a relict that could reflect a pre‐Tertiary Antarctic connection between South America and Australia and New Zealand. Two species belonging to this genus, Timyma juliae E. M. Froehlich, 1978 and Timyma olmuensis Almeida & Carbayo sp. n., are (re)described herein. Both species present ventral testes and a semilunate headplate, the same as the members of the Oriental subfamily Bipaliinae. Timyma olmuensis Almeida & Carbayo sp. n. is studied by means of an integrative approach. Two nuclear gene fragments (28S, EF) and a mitochondrial gene fragment (COI) were sequenced. Phylogenetic analyses pointed out that Timyma is the sister–group of the Neotropical Geoplaninae and is phylogenetically distant from Bipaliinae, contradicting the hypothesis of Timyma as a South American relict of a Gondwanan taxon. These results indicate that the headplate evolved independently in Timyma and Bipaliinae. Morphological data reinforce this view. Accordingly, Timyminae subfam. n. is proposed for Timyma and a new diagnosis for the genus is proposed.

Another alien terrestrial planarian in the United Kingdom: Australopacifica atrata (Steel, 1897) (Platyhelminthes: Tricladida: Continenticola).

Black terrestrial planarians, 5 mm to 3 cm long, have been found in five locations in the United Kingdom, the earliest in 2015. They are identified as Australopacifica atrata (Steel, 1897), a species originally described from New South Wales, Australia. A detailed systematic discussion of original and later descriptions, all of which are of external features only and with no morphological details, is given in support of this identification. Sectioned specimens show partly mature ovaries and ventral testes though none show any development of the copulatory apparatus. They reproduce freely by fission. They appear to be generalist scavengers, having been found feeding on a dead slow worm, a dead mouse, an earthworm and also on rotten fruit. In captivity they feed on chicken liver, squashed slugs and earthworms. It is assumed that they have been inadvertently introduced to the UK and distributed through horticultural activity.

A new genus and species of a terrestrial cavernicolan planarian from Barro Colorado Island, Panama (Platyhelminthes, Tricladida, Cavernicola).

The paper provides a taxonomic description of a new genus and species of terrestrial cavernicolan triclad flatworm from Barro Colorado Island, Panama. Molecular sequences of this species were already deposited in GenBank several years ago under the provisional taxon name Cavernicola sp. Animals have the following characteristics: absence of pigmentation and eyes; mouth opening located halfway in the pharyngeal cavity; few, ventral testes extending from a position far posterior to the ovaries to directly behind the pharyngeal cavity; strongly recurving sperm ducts, thus forming a loop; horizontally oriented cone-shaped penis papilla; common oviduct oriented perpendicular to the bursal canal and opening into the latter shortly before the canal communicates with the copulatory bursa; sac-shaped copulatory bursa lacking a distinct, single lumen and filled with a mass of syncytial cells, with interspersed nuclei.

A new terrestrial planarian species of the genus Marionfyfea (Platyhelminthes: Tricladida) found in Europe

ABSTRACTSmall (c. 1 cm long) terrestrial planarians found in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and France are described as a new species, Marionfyfea adventor sp. nov. Individuals of the new species have a patchy brown external appearance with small, seemingly random pale blue-ish patches. They have multiple eyes, uniserial around the anterior end, biserial or triserial laterally for a short distance then sparsely uniserial and lateral to the posterior end. The anatomy is characterized by five or six pairs of ventral testes and a single pair of ovaries adjacent to the pharyngeal pouch. The base of each ovary is surrounded by parovarian cells. The penis is of the inverted type with a basal hemispherical seminal vesicle. Two adenodactyls, one ventral, one dorsal, are present in the common antrum. The only other known species of Marionfyfea is recorded only from the Auckland Islands, New Zealand and we assume that the new species has been introduced to Europe.http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:7AC3D565-0BEB-4B67-8BEC-11A13A70D663

Girardia festae (Borelli, 1898) (Platyhelminthes: Tricladida: Dugesiidae): distribution extension in a high-altitude lake from Colombia

We revise the Neotropical distribution of Girardia festae (Platyhelminthes, Dugesiidae) following a new record in a Colombian high-altitude lake. G. festae is a freshwater planarian known mainly in the Andean Cordillera from Venezuela to Argentina. The species’ key reproductive features include: ventral testes, bottle-like penis papilla, and sperm ducts joining to the penis bulb latero-dorsally.

Taxonomy, ecology, and karyology of a new species of Phagocata from Spain, with a discussion on the phylogenetic systematics of the genus Phagocata s.l. (Platyhelminthes, Tricladida, Paludicola)

The new species Phagocata ullala Sluys, sp.nov. is described from two localities in Spain, the Ebro delta and Pyrenean Massif. The species is characterized by brown dorsal pigmentation, principally ventral testes throughout the body length, vasa deferentia that fuse to form the ejaculatory duct in the proximal section of the cone-shaped penis papilla, and a basic haploid complement of 17 chromosomes. Animals from the Pyrenees may be polyploid, with complements of 4n, 8n, 10n, and 14n. At present, the genus Phagocata s.l. is diagnosed only by plesiomorphic features. The paper explores possible apomorphic characters of several groups within this genus. It is suggested that "Albiplanaria" and Atrioplanaria are monophyletic taxa and that together "Albiplanaria," Fonticola olivacea, and Phagocata s.str. form a monophylum.

On Dugesia anceps (Kenk, 1930) from Argentina (Turbellaria: Tricladida)

Abstract Dugesia anceps (Kenk, 1930), formerly Planaria dubia Borelli, 1895, is a poorly known species from southern South America (Paraguay and Argentina). In this paper an anatomical as well as histological description is made and the previous identifications by Bohmig (1902) and Hyman (1959) are discussed. It can be distinguished from the other Neotropical species by the following characters: the ventral testes; the anteriorly curved spermiducts, ending in two intrapenial sperm vesicles that run downwards and unite at the base of the penis papilla to form a narrow ejaculatory duct; the long penis which has an ample male atrium; a relatively small copulatory bursa and a short but well defined female atrium with infranucleate epithelium. Dugesia anceps is the most abundant species of triclads in the mesosaprobe streams of southern Buenos Aires Province (Argentina).