Nematomorpha from Hong Kong and description of a new species from Malaysia
Author
Schmidt-Rhaesa, Andreas
Author
Karraker, Nancy E.
text
Zootaxa
2017
4238
3
395
405
journal article
36339
10.11646/zootaxa.4238.3.6
d97b6547-0416-4107-92ac-14e0d31817ad
1175-5326
345800
A7B98CE6-E473-47D6-83E5-A92F296ADB6E
Gordionus chinensis
(
Villot, 1874
)
(
Figure 4
)
Material
examined.
One
male and one female, the female is from Tai Mo
Shan
stream in Tai Mo
Shan
Country Park,
Hong Kong
(UTM Zone 50Q 2482514N/203818E),
elevation
565 m
.
Collected by
N.E. Karraker
on
June 4, 2009
.
The
male is from
Lau Shui Heung
stream,
Hong Kong
(2492632N/207331E),
elevation
80 m
.
Collected by
N.E. Karraker
on
May 18, 2010
.
Deposited
in the Zoological Museum
Hamburg
, accession numbers
V13402
(female) and
V13403
(male).
FIGURE 4.
Gordionus chinensis
,
V13402
(female) and
V13403
(male). A, B. Cuticular structure in male (A) and female (B). C. Posterior end of the male with ventral cloacal opening (co). D. Posterior end of the female with terminal cloacal opening (co). E. Cloacal opening of the male with circumcloacal spines (ccs).
Description.
The specimens measure 220 (female) and 200 (male) mm and have a diameter of 0.7 and
0.6 mm
, respectively. The length measurement of the male is a minimal count, because the anterior end is missing. The body color is light brown. The cuticle contains one
type
of areole. These are roughly polygonal and differ in size (
Fig. 4
A, B). Between the areoles are small knob-like structures (
Fig. 4
A, B). These are usually in the center of the edges of two neighboring areoles. The edge may be slightly indented at the position of the knobs. The knobs are not always strictly in the center of an edge, but may be shifted towards the sides.
The female posterior end is slightly swollen, and the cloacal opening is terminal (
Fig. 4
D). The male posterior end (
Fig. 4
C, E) is not in good condition. It has very smooth areas, which are likely artificial. Spines that must be present in this region could not be observed. Few spines from the anterolateral bristlefields (a common character in the genus) were observed, but these were also not well preserved. What is present are the circumcloacal spines (
Fig. 4
E). The oval cloacal opening is surrounded by a number of blunt spines. Some of these spines are artificially covered by some material. As far as could be observed all spines are unbranched.
Remarks.
The cuticular pattern of the specimens fits exactly to the description of
Gordionus chinensis
. The first, male specimen of this species was collected by Father Armand David during his stay in
Beijing
(
Peking
),
China
and brought to the Muséum National d´Histoire Naturelle in Paris, where it was investigated and described by
Villot (1874)
.
Dorier (1946)
later restudied this specimen.
Camerano (1895
,
1896
) assigned a few specimens from Borneo (
Indonesia
),
Western
China
(as Kaschgaria),
Kyrgyzstan
and Turkestan to this species but later (
Camerano 1897
) retreated from this determination.
Gordionus chinensis
is also reported from
Japan
(Schmidt-
Rhaesa & Sato 2009
, Schmidt-Rhaesa
et al.
2009).
Dorier (1946)
and
Schmidt-Rhaesa & Sato (2009)
reported the circumcloacal spines to be partly branched, whereas in the
Hong Kong
specimen all spines appeared unbranched.