Paravulvus Heyns, 1968

Gilarte, Patricia, Carreira, José Antonio & Peña-Santiago, Reyes, 2013, Description of Paravulvus moroccanus sp. n. (Nematoda, Dorylaimida, Nygolaimidae) from the High Atlas Mountains, Morocco, with notes on the taxonomy of the genus, Zootaxa 3734 (5), pp. 545-558 : 550-552

Taxonomy of Paravulvus Heyns, 1968

Syn. Nygolaimus (Paravulvus) Cobb, 1913 (Heyns, 1968)

The genus Paravulvus is a well-characterized dorylaimid taxon, easily distinguishable from other representatives of the family Nygolaimidae Thorne, 1935 . Its morphological pattern is defined by a unique combination of features: unusual arrangement of pharyngeal gland nuclei and their outlets (cf. Loof & Coomans, 1970), cardiac glands longitudinal (i. e. longer than wide and with the long axis parallel to body length), presence of large dorsal cell mass(es) at level of pharyngo-intestinal junction or anterior end of intestine, pars refringens vaginae present (although often weakly developed) and longitudinal vulva. Its original concept (Heyns, 1968) has not been significantly modified in later contributions (Loof & Coomans, 1970; Thorne, 1974; Ahmad & Jairajpuri, 1982; Jairajpuri & Ahmad, 1992; Lazarova et al., 2002) with the exception of the study of pharyngeal gland nuclei arrangement. Thus, the emended diagnosis by Lazarova et al. (2002) remains valid.

Ahmad and Jairajpuri (1982), certainly being aware of the peculiar pattern of Paravulvus , erected the subfamily Paravulvinae to separate this genus from the remaining members of the family Nygolaimidae , which were maintained under the subfamily Nygolaiminae . Ahmad and Jairajpuri’s opinion was not followed by Jairajpuri and Ahmad (1992), who regarded Paravulvinae as a synonym of Nygolaiminae . Lazarova et al. (2002) did not refer this matter. Andrássy (2009) agreed with Ahmad and Jairajpuri (1982). The combination of features that comprise the Paravulvus pattern, including several tentative apomorphic conditions (posterior location of DO and DN, longitudinal cardiac glands, dorsal cell mass at pharyngo-intestinal junction and longitudinal vulva) supports its separation from other Nygolaimidae and justifies the proposal by Ahmad and Jairajpuri (1982).

Leaving aside morphometric differences among species, intrageneric variability in Paravulvus is limited to three morphological features: the nature of mural tooth (often deltoid, occasionally solididentoid), the presence/ absence of paravulvae, and tail shape (either conical or conoid with broadly rounded terminus). It is not possible, however, to identify recognizable (sub)patterns within the genus.

Because several new species have been described and/or new records of species have been reported during the last decade, an updated list of species and a key to their identification are provided below. In addition, the identity of several species or populations is discussed, and a compendium of the main morphometrics of all valid species is presented in Table 2.

Type species:

P. acuticaudatus (Thorne, 1930) Heyns, 1968

= Nygolaimus acuticaudatus Thorne, 1930

Nygolaimus (Paravulvus) acuticaudatus Thorne, 1930 (Heyns, 1968)

Other valid species:

P. andrassyi Heyns, 1968

= Nygolaimus (Paravulvus) andrassyi Heyns, 1968

Nygolaimus planposae apud Andrássy (1963) , nec Altherr (1952) [syn. by Heyns (1968)]

P. confusus Akthar, Ahmad & Jairajpuri, 1994 .

P. hartingii (de Man, 1880) Heyns, 1968

= Dorylaimus hartingii de Man, 1880

Dorylaimus (Nygolaimus) hartingii de Man, 1880 (Thorne, 1929) Nygolaimus hartingii (de Man, 1880) Thorne, 1929 Nygolaimus (Paravulvus) hartingii Thorne, 1929 (Heyns, 1968) Nygolaimus dubius Thorne, 1930 [syn. by Heyns (1968)] Paravulvus paramphigonicus (Altherr, 1950) Heyns, 1968 [syn. by Lazarova et al. (2002)] Nygolaimus paramphigonicus Altherr, 1950

Nygolaimus (Paravulvus) paramphigonicus Altherr, 1950 (Heyns, 1968)

P. h e y n s i Vinciguerra, 1987

P. iranicus Olia, Ahmad, Choudhary & Jairajpuri, 2004

P. japonicus Ahmad, Araki & Kaneda, 2003

P. kyeryongensis Choi & Jairajpuri, 1998

P. loofi Ahmad, Araki & Kaneda, 2003

P. microdontus Olia, Ahmad, Choudhary & Jairajpuri, 2004 P. moroccanus sp. n.

P. neodubius Heyns, 1968

= Nygolaimus (Paravulvus) neodubius Heyns, 1968 P. papillatus Ahmad & Jairajpuri, 1982

P. planposae (Altherr, 1952) Heyns, 1968

= Nygolaimus planposae Altherr, 1952

Nygolaimus (Paravulvus) planposae Altherr, 1952 (Heyns, 1968) P. rhodopensis Lazarova, Peneva & Loof, 2002 P. teres (Thorne, 1930) Heyns, 1968

= Nygolaimus teres Thorne, 1930

Nygolaimus (Paravulvus) teres Thorne, 1930 (Heyns, 1968)