Land planarians (Platyhelminthes: Tricladida: Geoplanidae) from the Iberian Peninsula: new records and description of two new species, with a discussion on ecology
Author
Vila-Farré, Miquel
Author
Sluys, Ronald
Author
Mateos, Eduardo
Author
Jones, Hugh D.
Author
Romero, Rafael
text
Journal of Natural History
2011
2011-04-04
45
15 - 16
869
891
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00222933.2010.536267
journal article
10.1080/00222933.2010.536267
1464-5262
5203496
Microplana groga
Jones, Webster, Littlewood and Mc Donald, 2008
(
Figures 1
,
2
,
Table 1
)
Material examined
The slides used for the identification of these animals from the area of
el Montseny
,
el Molar
(
Catalunya
,
Northeastern Spain
,
one specimen
,
1 February 2004
), unfortunately have been lost
.
Comparative discussion
Jones et al. (2008)
described this species on the basis of five individuals previously identified as
M. terrestris
by
Mateos et al. (1998)
. The individual presented here is attributed to
M. groga
and belongs to a population approximately
50 km
from the
type
locality. It presents characteristics similar to those of the animals described by
Jones et al. (2008)
but it is externally different (
Figure 3A
). Instead of being “reddish to black” it is cream with small darker spots covering the entire dorsal surface. However, the copulatory apparatus (
Figure 3B
) is similar to that of
M. groga
, albeit that in our specimen the circular muscle layer surrounding the ejaculatory duct is stronger. Although we have observed differences between the external morphology of this specimen and
M. groga
we believe that both populations belong to the same species because of the similarities in the structure of the copulatory apparatus. Only after collecting new material will we be able to discern whether these are separate species rather than one, variable species.