Spiliphera Bastian, 1865

Venekey, Virag, Gheller, Paula F., Kandratavicius, Noelia, Cunha, Beatriz Pereira, Vilas-Boas, Ana Carolina, Fonseca, Gustavo & Maria, Tatiana F., 2019, The state of the art of Chromadoridae (Nematoda, Chromadorida): a historical review, diagnoses and comments about valid and dubious genera and a list of valid species, Zootaxa 4578 (1), pp. 1-67 : 49-50

Genus Spiliphera Bastian, 1865

The genus Spiliphera ( Figure 4 ) is poorly known and described, with many invalid, synonymized species or species inquirenda. Spilophora Bastian, 1865 nec Boheman, 1850 is an impermissible emendation, and Spilophorium Cobb, 1933 an impermissible substitution to Spiliphera . However, many authors used the emendation Spilophora ( Gerlach & Riemann 1973) . Wieser (1954) synonymized Statenia Allgén, 1930 with Spiliphera . Originally this genus was established by Bastian (1865) to accommodate four species ( S. elegans Bastian, 1865 ; S. inaequalis ; S. robusta Bastian, 1865 and S. costata Bastian, 1865 ), from which the last three are now included in other three different genera ( Hypodontolaimus , Halichoanolaimus and Monoposthia , respectively). The fourth species, S. elegans , the type species of Spiliphera , is insufficiently described and it was never recorded again, therefore it was considered doubtful species by Wieser (1954) and it is mentioned as species inquirendum by Gerlach & Riemann (1973). S. elegans was the type species of Spiliphera , therefore another, valid species of the genus should be proposed to ICZN as a replacement type species. S. dolichura de Man, 1893 and S. gracilicauda de Man, 1893 described from the English Channel are the only well-known representatives of Spiliphera . Over 30 species originally described as Spiliphera (or Spilophora , Spilophorium and Statenia ) belong now to other genera. Here we list only those with dubious taxonomic positions. S. punctata is poorly known and according to Gerlach (1964) probably belongs to Halichoanolaimus , but until further examination it should be considered species inquirendum. S. longiseta and S. tenuicauda , both poorly described by Allgén (1951) and based only on females, according to Wieser (1954) probably should be members of Comesomatidae and Prochromadorella , respectively, but until further examination they are considered here as species inquirenda. S. australis , S. gracilis and S. falklandiae are poorly described by Allgén (1959), the first two are based only on a single female specimen and the last lacks drawings, therefore all these three species are considered as species inquirenda.

Diagnosis (modified from Wieser 1954 and Tchesunov 2014): Cuticle homogeneous, consisting of more or less irregular dots with lateral differentiation present or absent. Amphideal fovea in shape of an open-looped spiral. Head sensilla arranged in three circles (6+6+4), anterior two minute and posterior setiform. Three solid teeth with posterior apophyses which project backwards into the oesophageal lumen. Pharyngeal bulb pyriform. Spicules not expanded proximally. Tail long, filiform.

Number of valid species: 2.

Genus Spiliphera Bastian, 1865

Syn. Spilophora Bastian, 1865 nec Boheman, 1850

Statenia Allgén, 1930

Spilophorium Cobb, 1933

VALID SPECIES

1. Spiliphera dolichura de Man, 1893 (English Channel)

Syn. Spiliphera gracilicauda dolichura de Man, 1893

Spiliphera giardi Rouville, 1903

Spiliphera trichophorella Wieser, 1954

Spiliphera tricophora (Allgén, 1932) Wieser, 1954

Spiliphera trichura ( Allgén, 1930) Wieser, 1954

Statenia tricophora Allgén, 1932

Statenia trichura Allgén, 1930

2. Spiliphera gracilicauda de Man, 1893 (English Channel)

Syn. Spiliphera gracilicauda dolichura sensu Allgén, 1951

Spiliphera gracilicauda breviseta Allgén, 1959

SPECIES INQUIRENDA

1. Spiliphera australis Allgén, 1959 (Fuegian Archipelago)

2. Spiliphera elegans Bastian, 1865 (English Channel)

3. Spiliphera falklandiae Allgén, 1959 ( Falkland Islands)

4. Spiliphera gracilis Allgén, 1959 ( Falkland Islands)

5. Spiliphera punctata Linstow, 1900 (Bear Island)

6. Spiliphera longiseta ( Allgén, 1951) Wieser, 1954 (Hawaii)

7. Spiliphera tenuicauda ( Allgén, 1951) Wieser, 1954 (Hawaii)

Figures

FIGURE 4. Schematic representation of Harpagonchinae and Spilipherinae genera. The drawings aim to show head with buccal cavity and amphideal fovea and cuticle ornamentation (general pattern). For Harpagonchus, Harpagonchoides and Acantholaimus the copulatory apparatus is also presented. In all drawings the right side is the dorsal side of the nematode.