Notocomplana saxicola ( Heath & McGregor, 1912 )

Ramos-Sánchez, Mariela, 2024, The polyclads (Platyhelminthes: Polycladida) from the Tropical Eastern Pacific: Commented checklist and description of a new species, European Journal of Taxonomy 962 (1), pp. 1-67 : 24

Notocomplana saxicola ( Heath & McGregor, 1912)

Leptoplana saxicola Heath & McGregor, 1912: 457 , 467–470, pl. 12 fig. 4, pl. 14 figs 19, 21, pl. 16 fig. 30 (type locality: Monterey Bay, California, United States).

Notoplana saxicola – Hyman 1953a: 316–319, figs 66–67 (new combination and new record from La Paz Bay, Baja California Sur).

Distribution

Monterey Bay, McGinities, Huntington Beach, California Pacific Grove, La Paz Bay, Baja California Sur.

Habitat

Benthic.

Remarks

Heath & McGregor (1912) made the first description of the species, determining it as Leptoplana saxicola ; later Hyman (1953a) transferred the species to the genus Notocomplana based on the presence of a prominent vesicle. The present study suggests an exhaustive revision of the organisms described by these authors, due to the variants in the position and morphology of Lang’s vesicle and the orientation of the pharynx, described below:

1. The organisms described by Heath & McGregor (1912) have an oval Lang’s vesicle positioned anterior to the female gonopore and oriented toward the anterior region of the body; and a pharynx oriented toward the posterior region of the body ( Heath & McGregor 1912: pl. 12 fig. 4; pl. 16 fig. 30).

2. Specimens described by Hyman (1953a) have an oval Lang’s vesicle positioned posterior to the female gonopore and oriented toward the posterior region of the body; and a pharynx oriented toward the anterior region of the body ( Hyman 1953a: 316, 320, figs 66, 68).