Avagina cf. marci Dörjes and Karling, 1975

Hooge, Matthew D. & Tyler, Seth, 2007, Acoela (Acoelomorpha) from Belize, Zootaxa 1479 (1), pp. 21-33 : 28-29

Avagina cf. marci Dörjes and Karling, 1975

( Fig. 6C )

Material. Living specimens in squeeze preparation; ethanol-preserved specimens for DNA extraction. Localities. East of Carrie Bow Cay (16°48’09” N, 88°04’55” W), from fine-grained sand in a sand trough at 30 m depth, and south of Carrie Bow Cay at 3– 8 m depth from sand collected at a sand bore (16°45’53” N, 88°07’09” W) .

Description. Mature specimens ~ 600 µm in length and ~ 150 µm wide ( Fig. 6C ). Anterior and posterior ends rounded; posterior end club-shaped ( Fig. 6C ). Body without coloration in transmitted light. Rhabdoid glands not present. Mouth opening on ventral surface, anterior half of body.

Remarks. Mature specimens of this species were relatively fragile, thereby preventing us from obtaining material suitable for histological sections. We tentatively identify this species as Avagina marci due to its superficial similarity in appearance to A. marci , as well its nearly identical 18S rDNA sequence (unpublished data).

Figures

FIGURE 6. Photomicrographs of living acoel specimens. A. Hofstenia miamia collected from decaying mangrove leaves. B. Hofstenia miamia collected from a bed of Thalassia sp. C. Avagina cf. marci.