Revision of the genus Chordodes (Gordiida: Nematomorpha) from Africa IV. Ultrastructural redescription of Chordodes congolensis Sciacchitano, 1933, Chordodes ferox Camerano, 1897, Chordodes madagascariensis (Camerano, 1893), Chordodes mobensis Sciacchitano, 1958 and reinterpretation of Chordodes maculatus Sciacchitano, 1958 and Chordodes kakandensis Sciacchitano, 1958
Author
Villalobos, C. De
Author
Zanca, F.
Author
Schmidt-Rhaesa, A.
text
Journal of Natural History
2009
2009-10-05
43
41 - 44
2579
2595
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00222930903220002
journal article
10.1080/00222930903220002
1464-5262
5217952
Chordodes kakandensis
Sciacchitano, 1958
(
Figure 7
)
Chordodes kakandensis
Sciacchitano, 1958
, p. 37
, figures 30–32.
Holotype
One
♀
,
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Lualaba
:
Kakanda
(Tanganika, Moba) (
Sciacchitano 1958
) (
AMT
29888).
Material examined
SEM mid-body:
Holotype
.
Host
Unknown.
Description
Holotype
: body colour light brown. Anterior end narrows slightly towards apex with white calotte. Posterior end undivided, cloacal opening terminal.
Body cuticle includes
five types
of areoles (
Figure 7A, B
). Simple areoles round or oval with warty surface with or without minute bristles on top. Tubercle areoles and thorn areoles present (
Figure 7B
). Clusters of two crowned areoles surrounded by 12–16 circumcluster areoles with minute bristles at the apex. Crowned areoles highly elevated above cuticular surface, with apical ring of filaments. Along ventral midline there is another
type
of crowned areoles with very long filaments (up to 135 µm) (
Figure 7C
).
Dimensions
Measurement of the specimen investigated:
180 mm
long and
1 mm
wide (
Sciacchitano 1958
).
Comments
Sciacchitano (1958)
described
Chordodes kakandensis
on the basis of
one female
specimen. He mentioned and drew three areolar
types
, corresponding to simple, thorn and clusters of crowned and circumcluster areoles from our investigation. From the SEM reinvestigation, we distinguished another
type
of areole, the tubercle areoles. The same cuticular pattern is present in
Chordodes schoutedeni
(
Sciacchitano 1933
;
Zanca, Schmidt-Rhaesa et al. 2006
) and we therefore regard
C. kakandensis
as a synonym of
C. schoutedeni
. In this study we observed a new characteristic of the female of
C. schoutedeni
that has never been described before: along the ventral furrow there are crowned areoles with long filaments.