Typhlopolycystis mediterranea Brunet, 1965

Schockaert, Ernest R., Moons, Patricia, Janssen, Toon, Tessens, Bart S., Reygel, Patrick C., Revis, Nathalie, Jouk, Philippe E. H., Willems, Wim R. & Artois, Tom J., 2019, On the genus Typhlopolycystis Karling, 1956 (Platyhelminthes, Kalyptorhynchia, Polycystididae), with data on the five known species and the description of eleven new species, Zootaxa 4603 (1), pp. 81-104 : 91-92

Typhlopolycystis mediterranea Brunet, 1965 .

( Fig. 8 )

Diagnosis. Orange light-brownish species of Typhlopolycystis , about 2 mm with a large proboscis of 1/3 of body length and with eyes. The hard parts of the copulatory organ are robust. The prostate stylet is highly curved with a thick wall at the concave side. It is 25–43 µm long (n=6). The accessory stylet is 60–83 µm long (n=6). Both stylets are attached to a ring of about 45–58 µm (n=6).

Occurrence. France: Gulf of Marseille in Amphioxus sand (see Brunet, 1965) (Type locality); Cerbère , Terrimbou, Les Aloés, in front of the little jetty, clean sand, 8 m deep, (by Revis & Jouk, 29 July 2007) ; Sweden: Isle of Bonden (West Coast), shell gravel, 20–30m (by Karling, 0 7 August 1961 and by Schockaert, 11 July 1974) .

Material studied. The holotype as indicated by Brunet (1965) (SMNH nr 96866, sectioned specimen) and three whole mounts from the type locality (syntypes SMNH nrs 96868, 43586 and SMNH typ 2703, the latter indicated as holotype by Karling in Schockaert & Karling (1975, p. 140). Whole mounts of the two specimens from the Kristineberg area (SMNH nrs 43588 and 96658) and two whole mounts from Cerbère (HU nrs IX.4.36–37).

Additional data. Schockaert & Karling (1975) consider T. limicola Schilke, 1970 as a synonym of T. mediterranea . The drawing of Schilke in his figure 5B makes this possible. But with our present knowledge, it has become clear that differences are often very subtle. Moreover, the proboscis of T. limicola (figure 5 in Schilke, 1970) seems to be much smaller than in T. mediterranea (1/5 against 1/3 of body length). As long as there is no material available of “ T. limicola ” from the type locality (N-E beach on Sylt), we prefer to consider this species as a species inquirenda.

Figures

FIGURE 8. Typhlopolycystis mediterranea Brunet, 1965. Copulatory organ (A) of the syntype indicated as holotype (SMNH typ 2703), (B) of an individual from the Kristineberg area and (C) of an individual from Cerbère (S. France). (scale = 20 µm)