Phaenocora megalops ( Duges, 1830 ) Ehrenberg, 1836

Houben, Albrecht M., Steenkiste, Niels Van & Artois, Tom J., 2014, Revision of Phaenocora Ehrenberg, 1836 (Rhabditophora, Typhloplanidae, Phaenocorinae) with the description of two new species, Zootaxa 3889 (3), pp. 301-354 : 346-347

Phaenocora megalops ( Duges, 1830) Ehrenberg, 1836

( Fig. 12 A)

Derostoma megalops Duges 1830: 78 , 80; Braun 1885: 229 –232, plate 1 Fig. 7 , plate 4 Fig. 27–29; Lippitsch 1889: 158; Sekera 1904: 441; Brinkmann 1906: 134; Hofsten 1912: 624.

Derostoma ? megalops Graff 1882: 367 , 370–371.

Derostoma erythrops Braun 1885: 229 .

Phaenocora megalops Ehrenberg 1836: 66 –67; Graff 1909: 93 –94; Graff 1913: 134, 139–140, Fig. 139; Nasonov 1917: 1107; Luther 1918: 49; Beklemischev 1921: 641 –642, Nasonov 1926: 869; Stummer-Traunfels & Meixner 1930 (and references therein): 3410, 3413; Gilbert 1935: 283 –284, 322, 324, 342, 344–346, 354, 358, 366, 370, 373, TextFigs 1D, 3B, table 1, 2; Gilbert 1937: 70; Weise 1942: 145, Fig. 70; Marcus 1946: 70; Müller & Faubel 1993: table 1.

Phoenocora megalops (incorrect subsequent spelling) Cognetti de Martiis 1916: 217, 233, 235, 237.

Known distribution: Montpellier? ( France), in ditches with pluvial waters ( Duges 1830); Tartu (former Dorpats, Estonia) ( Braun 1885), South France?, Tartu ( Estonia) ( Graff 1909; Graff 1913), Finland ( Nasonov 1917; Luther 1918), vicinity of Berlin ( Germany) ( Weise 1942); in the vicinity of Hamburg ( Deutschland), along the Elbe estuary (see Müller & Faubel 1993 for localities and references).

According to Braun (1885) the animals are up to 4 mm long, with kidney-shaped eyes, which appear red or silver under reflective light and black under transmissive light. Zoochlorellae are absent. The male copulatory organ is probably of the duplex-type IIA (see COMPARISON OF SPECIES section). The female genital system is so poorly known that it is impossible to determine the type. Further observations on new material are needed. The distribution in France recorded by Duges (1830) and Graff (1909; 1911) is questionable since the early descriptions of P. megalops were not very adequate, and could also fit some of the later-described species of the taxon Phaenocora .

Figures

FIGURE 7. Phaenocora unipunctata A, reconstruction on sagittal sections of male copulatory organ (caudal end at the left). B, reconstruction on sagittal sections of female genital system, original position of the ovary is marked with ... + ..... + ... (caudal end at the left). (SMNH Type- 8674).