Labronemia digiturum, Vinciguerra, Maria Teresa, 1984

Vinciguerra, Maria Teresa, 1984, Description Of Two New Species And Remarks On Some Known Species Of Nematodes From Sardinia, Animalia 11 (1 - 3), pp. 127-134 : 131-133

Labronemia digiturum n. sp.

(Figs. 7- 11; Pl. I , 3)

Measurements

Holotype ♀ L =1.46 mm; a =16; b =3.5; c:36; V =57 % Paratype ♀ L= l. 59 mm; a =18; b =3.7; c =40; V =53%

Paratype ♂ L =1.58 mm; a =20; b =3.9; c =39; supplements 14.

DESCRIPTION

Female. Body stout, almost straight upon fixation. Cuticle with transverse striation so fine to be almost invisible, 3-4 μm thick. Lateral chords large, one-fourth to one fifth of body width at mid-body. Lip region weakly set off by a slight depression. Lips well developed, slightly angular because of the protruding papillae. Amphids triangular, anteriorly widening out; their aperture about two-thirds of the corresponding body width. Odontostyle 19-20 μm long, almost 1.3 lip widths, and 3 μm thick; its aperture about one-third of its length. Guiding ring double. Odontophore rod-like, 28-29 μm long. Oesophagus enlarging at 25-23 of its length. Cardia globular in its anterior part and conical posteriorly. Rectum as long as anal body width. Prerectum twice the rectum length.

Genital apparatus amphidelphic. Vulva longitudinal; cuticle conspicuously wrinkled in front and behind of it in one specimen, slightly in the other; vagina with distal sclerotized pieces. Between uterus and oviduct a distinct sphincter is present. Uterus with two eggs surrounded by sperms in one specimen, measuring 64-66 μm x 46-51 μm. Tail short, digitate or dome-shaped, almost as long as the anal body width.

Male. Similar to female in most respects. Testes two, dorylaimoid. 14 regularly spaced ventromedian supplements in addition to the adanal pair. Spicules dorylaimoid, 67 μm long; lateral guiding pieces 17 μm long. Prerectum 3 anal body widths long, beginning within the range of supplements. A longitudinal series of glandular bodies is present in the genital area, their ducts surrounding spicules. Tail convex-conoid, digitate.

Diagnosis and relationship. Labronema digiturum n. sp. is characterizcd by medium size, longitudinal vulva, cuticle wrinkled in the vulval region, tail short, digitate. It comes close to L. pararapax Ahmad and Jairajpuri, 1982 and to L. rapax Thorne, 1974 . It differs from the former in the longitudinal vulva and shorter odontostyle; from both in the hardly set off lip region, in the number of supplements and in the wrinkled cuticle near vulva. It resembles also L. mauritiense Williams, 1959 , from which it differs in the wrinkled advulval cuticle, in the less set off lip region, the more anterior vulva, the differently shaped tail. From L. goodeyi Altherr and Delamare, 1972 and from L. valvapapillatum Loof and Grootaert, 1981 , both with advulval papillae, the new species differs in the digitate tail.

Type habitat and locality. The new species was found in moss on rocks near Flumendosa river, S. Vito (CA), Italy.

Type specimens. Holotype and paratypes are preserved in the collection of the Dipartimento di Biologia Animale, University of Catania.

Figures

Plate I l, 2: Prionchulus obtusidentatus n. sp.: head (x 1250); 3, 4: Labronema digitarum n. sp.: 3: vulval region (x 500); 4: male tail (x 300).