Gieysztoria beltrani ( Gieysztor, 1931 ) Ruebush & Hayes, 1939

Steenkiste, Niels Van, Tessens, Bart, Krznaric, Kathleen & Artois, Tom, 2011, Dalytyphloplanida (Platyhelminthes: Rhabdocoela) from Andalusia, Spain, with the description of four new species, Zootaxa 2791, pp. 1-29 : 22-23

Gieysztoria beltrani ( Gieysztor, 1931) Ruebush & Hayes, 1939

( Fig. 8 D)

syn. Dalyellia beltrani Gieysztor, 1931

syn. Microdalyellia beltrani Ruebush & Hayes, 1939

New localities in Spain. Doñana National Park, Provincia de Huelva, Spain (36°49’27”N, 6°21’40”W). Llanos del Taraje near Ecomuseo Robledo de la Plancha: muddy temporal pond with Ranunculus aquatilis and sedges (25/03/ 2008).

Doñana National Park, Provincia de Huelva, Spain (37°04’23”N, 6°22’28”W). Laguna de la FAO: permanent water body with submersed vegetation (05/04/2008).

Doñana National Park, Provincia de Huelva, Spain (36°58’50”N, 6°29’11”W). Laguna Dulce: swamp vegetation on the northern edge and floating algae and submersed vegetation on the border of the marsh and open water (06/04/2008).

Doñana National Park, Provincia de Huelva, Spain (36°59’26.53”N, 6°26’32.16”W). Marsh with Ranunculus aquatilis , Calla palustris and sedges near El Palacio (06/04/2008).

Other localities in Spain. Central areas (Sierra de Guadarrama and river Tajo basin, see Gamo & Noreña- Janssen 1998); Navaescurial (Provincia de Avila, Castilla y León) ( Gamo & Mayor 1987), La Albufera and el Jardín botánico de Valencia (Provincia de Valencia, Comunidad Valenciana) ( Gieysztor 1931).

New locality outside Spain. Département du Var, Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, France. Dry mud from a temporal pond provided by Dr. Alain Thiéry (09/2007) and hatched at Hasselt University ( Belgium) (10/2007)

Material. Observations on live animals and several whole mounts from Andalusia. Studies on live specimens and three whole mounts from France.

Remarks. The animals from Andalusia are between 0.9 and 1.1 mm. The stylet is 119–134 µm long and consists of two parts of equal length: a proximal girdle with a fenestra and a distal part with spines (“Fenestratae” subgroup, “Inaequales” group of the Gieysztoria- type in Luther 1955, see also Discussion of G. iberica n. sp.), which corresponds completely with the stylet from Gieysztoria beltrani ( Gieysztor, 1931) Ruebush & Hayes, 1939 , as described by Gieysztor (1931) and Luther (1955).

This species has only been found in some localities in eastern and central Spain ( Gieysztor 1931; Gamo & Mayor 1987; Gamo & Noreña-Janssen 1998). The animals from eastern Spain measured 0.9–1.4 mm, while the French animals attained a length of 1–1.3 mm. The stylet length of the specimens from Andalusia also falls within the range of other observations from this species (southern France: 125–139 µm; eastern Spain: 100–125 µm; central Spain: 130 µm) (see Gieysztor 1931; Gamo & Mayor 1987; own observations). Since records from other parts of Europe are lacking, G. beltrani seems to be preliminarily confined to permanent and temporal freshwater bodies of the Western Mediterranean region.

Figures

FIGURE 8. Microdalyellia armigera (Schmidt, 1861) Gieysztor, 1938 a (A) Stylet. Gieysztoria cuspidata (Schmidt, 1861) Ruebush & Hayes, 1939 (B) Stylet (arrows indicate digitiform protuberances). Gieysztoria macrovariata (Weise, 1942) Ruebush & Hayes, 1939 (C) Stylet. Gieysztoria beltrani (Gieysztor, 1931) Ruebush & Hayes, 1939 (D) Stylet.