Stenostomum sphagnetorum Luther, 1960

Larsson, Karolina & Willems, Wim, 2010, Report on freshwater Catenulida (Platyhelminthes) from Sweden with the description of four new species, Zootaxa 2396, pp. 1-18 : 14

Stenostomum sphagnetorum Luther, 1960

( Fig. 5 I, 6 E–F)

Localities. Loc. 2, 22, 25, 30.

Known distribution. Finland ( Luther 1960) and several other European countries, USA and Africa ( Tyler et al. 2006 with references therein).

Material. Several individuals studied alive.

Remarks. According to Luther (1960) S. sphagnetorum can be confused with S. constrictum ( Luther 1960) . However, the species differs in the head shape since in S. constrictum the constriction anterior to the pharynx is more prominent.

Based on these characters Luther (1960:154) decided to split S. unicolor Schmidt, 1848 and named the resulting species S. constrictum and S. sphagnetorum .

Luther’s description (1960) of the habitat and the behaviour of S. sphagnetorum relate well to our findings.

Figures

FIGURE 5. Live specimens of Catenulida: A – B: Stenostomum arevaloi (A: anterior end, B: tail); C-D: Stenostomum bryophilum (C: one zooid, D: two zooids); E: Stenostomum grabbskogense; F-G: Stenostomum leucops (F: whole animal, G: anterior end); H, L: Catenula turgida (H: whole individual, L: mouth region); I: Stenostomum sphagnetorum; J: Catenula macrura; K: Catenula lemnae; M: Rhynchoscolex simplex.