Utelga pseudoheinckei Karling, 1980

Diez, Yander L., Monnens, Marlies, Aguirre, Rosa Isabel, Yurduseven, Rana, Jouk, Philippe, Van Steenkiste, Niels W. L., Leander, Brian S., Schockaert, Ernest, Reygel, Patrick, Smeets, Karen & Artois, Tom, 2021, Taxonomy and phylogeny of Koinocystididae (Platyhelminthes, Kalyptorhynchia) with the description of three new genera and twelve new species, Zootaxa 4948 (4), pp. 451-500 : 488

Utelga pseudoheinckei Karling, 1980

( Fig. 20D–E )

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:27A436A5-2FD7-4059-A2D3-F75FF5104526

Syn. Utelga heinckei in Brunet (1965) and Mack-Fira (1974).

Known distribution. Korsfjord (Tekslo Island, Hordaland Fylke), Kleppholmen Island, and Fugloy Island, Norway; California, USA ( Karling 1980). Marseille area, France ( Brunet 1965); Black Sea, Romania ( Mack-Fira 1974).

New records and material. Observations on live specimens. Four whole mounts (HU XIII.4.34– XIII.4.37) from Punta Negra (40°57’12”N, 8°13’43”E), Stintino, Sardinia, Italy (September 2018), on silty algae, 0.5 m deep, salinity 40 ‰.

Remarks. The morphology of the specimens corresponds with the description of Karling (1980). The general habitus and internal organisation are very similar to those in U. heinckei . The elongated copulatory bulb is 92– 108 μm long (x̄ = 100 μm; n = 2) and 35 μm wide (n = 2). In a third specimen, not fully developed, the copulatory bulb is 49 μm long and 21 μm wide. The three hooks ( Fig. 20D–E ) at the distal end of the copulatory bulb are all of the same length, 5–8 μm long (x̄ = 7 μm; n = 6), with a broad base, curved and with a sharp tip.

Figures

FIGURE 20. Hooks in species of Utelga. A–C, Utelga heinckei. D–E, Utelga pseudoheinckei (specimen from Sardinia). A–B, specimen from Cuba. C, specimen from Lanzarote. All with proximal end toward top of figure.