Chordodes caledoniensis Villot, 1874

Schmidt-Rhaesa, Andreas & Schwarz, Christian J., 2016, Nematomorpha from the Philippines, with description of two new species, Zootaxa 4158 (2), pp. 246-260 : 255

Chordodes caledoniensis Villot, 1874

( Figure 7 )

Material examined. Two females from Central Panay Mountain Range , Barangay Maria Cristina, Madalag , Aklan, Panay Island, Philippines (11° 30.827' N, 122° 11.089' E), ~ 195 m ; mixed primary and secondary forest; host collected by G. Operiano & J. Jamangal on January 31, 2013. Both specimens ( Fig. 7 A) were half emerged from an undescribed Mantodea upon preservation of the latter (description of host in preparation by second author). Specimens were removed from host for sex determination. Deposited in the Zoological Museum Hamburg, accession numbers V13379 and V13380 .

Description. One of the two specimens (named here specimen 1) was almost completely wrapped in larval cuticle ( Fig. 7 H), which is torn open in several regions and allows selective views on the structure of the adult cuticle underneath (Fig. I, J). Specimen 2 was almost completely molted, but larval cuticle was still covering parts of the posterior end ( Fig. 7 F). Both specimens are very small, specimen 1 is 65 mm long and specimen 2 measures 55 mm. Both have a diameter of 0.5 mm.

The cuticle contains simple areoles which are irregular in structure, no surface substructure was observed ( Fig. 7 D). Tubercle areoles are present ( Fig. 7 C, D), thorn areoles were not observed. Bulging areoles occur on the cuticle, mostly in pairs ( Fig. 7 D). They carry very short apical bristles ( Fig. 7 D). Clusters composed of two crowned areoles and 8–10 circumcluster areoles are present ( Fig. 7 C, D, E, G, I, J). Crowned areoles have short (about 10 µm) apical filaments ( Fig. 7 C, D) that radiate towards all sides of the areole, which has a central depression on top ( Fig. 7 C, D). Apical filaments can be slightly branched ( Fig. 7 I). The circumcluster areoles resemble the bulging areoles in structure. On both sides along the ventral midline there are crowned areoles with very long (> 70 µm) apical filaments, these crowned areoles appear to have longer and shorter filaments ( Fig. 7 B, E).

Remarks. The structure of the cuticle corresponds largely to the description of Chordodes caledoniensis . This species was described by Villot (1874) on the basis of three specimens from New Caledonia. Dorier (1946) reinvestigated these specimens and found them to be one male and two females. According to him only one female, the holotype, showed the characters for this species. Only drawings are available, no photographic or SEM documentation has been given to date. Nevertheless , the drawings of the cuticular structure correspond well with what was observed here for the specimens investigated. Römer (1896) and Camerano (1897) synonymized two further species described by Villot, C. sumatrensis from Sumatra, and C. tuberculatus from Australia, with C. caledoniensis .

Figures

FIGURE 7. Chordodes caledoniensis. A. Both specimens emerging simultaneously from specimen of Theopompa sp. (Mantodea). For investigation, specimens were completely removed from their host. B – G from specimen (2), H – J from specimen (1). B. Ventral side showing the arrangement of crowned areole clusters with long filaments (arrows) along both sides of the ventral midline (white line). C, D. Structure of crowned areoles (crar), circumcluster areoles (ccar), tubercle areoles (tuar) and bulging areoles (bar). E. Magnification of clusters with crowned areoles with long filaments. F. The posterior end is partly covered by larval cuticle (lc). G. Areoles in the posterior end are further apart from each other than in anterior regions. H. Body is almost completely wrapped in larval cuticle (lc), which is torn open in many places. I, J. Larval cuticle is open above clusters with crowned areoles.