Updated inventory and distribution of free-living flatworms from Tunisian waters
Author
Gammoudi, Mehrez
Author
Garbouj, Myriam
Author
Egger, Bernhard
Author
Tekaya, Saïda
text
Zootaxa
2017
4263
1
120
138
journal article
33097
10.11646/zootaxa.4263.1.5
d37f4c45-3df2-4c16-82f2-28cc595d38dc
1175-5326
572567
CD7C8838-F904-4678-BDF1-A48DF4FC3D9F
Discocelis tigrina
(
Blanchard, 1847
)
Lang, 1884
(
Fig. 2
f)
Habitat.
10 specimens were collected from oyster beds.
Locality.
Bizerta
lagoon (
37° 13' 19.29" N
;
9° 55' 49.94" E
), lagoon of
Tunis
(
36° 48' 23.53" N
;
10° 16' 04.63" E
).
Localities in
Tunisia
from bibliography.
Bizerta
lagoon (Gammoudi
et al.
2011; Gammoudi & Tekaya 2012).
Other localities in the world
.
Sicily
(
Blanchard 1847
);
Gulf of Naples
(
Lang 1884
); the coast of
Catalonia
(
Novell 2001
);
Mauritania
(
Palombi 1939
);
North Atlantic
(Noreña
et al.
2015).
Remark.
The polyclad
Discocelis tigrina
was found usually in association with the cultivated oyster
Crassostrea gigas
(Thunberg, 1793)
in
Bizerta
lagoon. In some cases, the flatworm was collected inside empty shells or shells containing a rest of bivalve viscera suggesting a likely predator-prey association. This hypothesis is supported by the fact that many acotyleans are known to be predators of commercial bivalves (
Galleni
et al.
1980
;
Gammoudi
et al.
2016a
).