Archimonocelis carmelitana Martens & Curini-Galletti, 1993

Curini-Galletti, Marco, Delogu, Valentina, Campus, Paolo & Casu, Marco, 2007, New species of the genus Archimonocelis Meixner, 1938 (Proseriata, Archimonocelididae) from southern Apulia (Italy), Zootaxa 1557, pp. 47-58 : 57

Archimonocelis carmelitana Martens & Curini-Galletti, 1993

( Fig. 4 E)

Material: Apulia, Italy: Santa Maria di Leuca (Lecce), cave ‘la Principessa’(lat. 39°47’58.50”N, long. 18°22’27.86”E), about 5 m deep in medium to coarse sand, May 2005: two whole mounts (ZMC-62;63), two specimens processed for karyology. Porto Cesareo (Lecce): Torre Scianuli, about 7 m deep in pockets of sediments (mostly shell fragments) on a limestone cliff, May 2005: seven whole mounts (ZMC-64/70), four specimens processed for karyology.

Description. Specimens are characterized by an elongate and extremely slender (2–3 µm broad), tubular stylet, with a slightly inflated and oblique basis, 7.5–9 µm in diameter, and with a narrow, oblique, distal tip. Size of stylet is 126 + 6.3 µm and 114 + 7.78 µm long in the samples from Santa Maria di Leuca (n=4) and Torre Scianuli (n=11) respectively. The stylet is connected to two very fine, feebly sclerotized companion spines, 130–156 µm long, about 2 µm broad (fig 4 E). With numerous copulatory spines, numbering 125 + 9 and 97 + 17 in the two samples. These spines are extremely slender, with a stalk about 1 mm broad, and with a slightly falcate apex, provided with a very small, obtuse subterminal tooth. Copulatory spines proximal to the stylet are about 100 µm long; they progressively become shorter, to about 50 µm long, distal to the stylet.

Karyotype. Chromosome number: n = 9; FN =9. All chromosomes are acrocentric, slightly differing in length. Chrom. I = r.l.: 13.47 + 0.48; c.i.: 3.36 + 0.62 (t); Chrom. II = r.l.: 12.95 + 0.20; c.i.: 3.55 + 1.34 (t); Chrom. III = r.l.: 12.50 + 0.87; c.i.: 3.62 + 0.12 (t); Chrom. IV = r.l.: 11.92 + 0.34; c.i.: 3.81 + 0.20 (t); Chrom. V = r.l.: 11.54 + 0.26; c.i.: 3.93 + 3.62 (t); Chrom. VI = r.l.: 10.68 + 0.45; c.i.: 8.78 + 4.86 (t); Chrom. VII = r.l.: 10.23 + 0.31; c.i.: 4.31 + 0.15 (t); Chrom. VIII = r.l.: 8.69 + 0.64; c.i.: 5.22 + 0.37 (t); Chrom. IX = r.l.: 7.95 + 0.57; c.i.: 5.71 + 1.46 (t) (based on the measurements of six spermatogonial plates from specimens from Torre Scianuli).

Remarks. A. carmelitana , common and widespread in the eastern Mediterranean, had already been reported for the area of Porto Cesareo ( Martens & Curini-Galletti, 1993), which represents the westernmost record for the species. In comparison to the Apulian samples, specimens from the type locality ( Israel: Cape Carmel, Haifa) have a smaller and stouter stylet, 97–105 µm long and 3.5–4 µm wide; the copulatory spines are shorter, ranging 52–66 µm in length. Furthermore, the presence of companion spines was not reported ( Martens & Curini-Galletti, 1993). However, written observations accompanying the camera lucida drawings of the karyological slides (Curini-Galletti, own preserved material) mentioned the presence of two 'long, evanescent' spines in the Israelian specimens, which were later not included in the original description, based on whole mounts, where these structures are indeed very difficult to be appreciated. The general arrangement of the copulatory structures, number of copulatory spines, and the nearly identical karyometrical data among Israelian and Apulian populations allow to assume that a single, wide-ranging, somewhat variable species is involved.

Figures

FIGURE 4. Archimonocelis parastaresoi sp. n. A: sclerotized apparatus (holotype); B, C: details of copulatory structures and accessory spines; D: metaphasic plate from spermatogonia. Archimonocelis carmelitana Martens & Curini- Galletti, 1993, E: sclerotized apparatus from a karyological slide, showing companion spines (arrow). Scale = A – C: 25 µm; D: 10 µm; E: 50 µm.