Gieysztoria cuspidata ( Schmidt, 1861 ) 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 : 21

Gieysztoria cuspidata ( Schmidt, 1861) Ruebush & Hayes, 1939

( Fig. 8 B)

syn. Vortex cuspidatus Schmidt, 1861

syn. Vortex sexdentatus Graff, 1882

syn. Dalyellia cuspidata Hofsten, 1907 syn. Microdalyellia cuspidata Gieysztor, 1938b

New locality in Spain. La Puebla del Rio, Provincia de Sevilla, Spain (37°11’42.84”N, 6°11’24.53”W). Reserva Natural Concertada Dehesa de Abajo: temporal cattle pond with vegetation and Triops sp. 500m west from Dehesa de Abajo (21/03/2008).

Other localities in Spain. Central areas (Sierra de Guadarrama and river Tajo basin, see Gamo & Noreña- Janssen 1998); La Albufera (Provincia de Valencia, Comunidad Valenciana) ( Gieysztor 1931).

New localities outside Spain. Palearctic: Genk, Limburg, Belgium (50°57’29”N, 05°27’41”E). De Maten: floating and submersed aquatic vegetation in the Stiemerbeek (17/07/2008).

Lommel, Limburg, Belgium (51°14’42”N, 05°17’29”E; 51°14’53”N, 05°17’24”E; 51°14’44”N, 05°17’22”E). Lommelse Sahara: aquatic vegetation in a pond (23/07/2008).

Bernissart, Hainaut, Belgium (50°27’46”N, 03°40’52”E). Marais d’Harchies-Hensies-Pommeroeul: floating and submersed aquatic vegetation from the marsh between both bird hides (09/06/2009).

Favaskär, Raseborg, Uusimaa, Finland (59°50’01”N, 23°15’48”E). Organic material and mosses from small rock pool (07/08/2008).

Nearctic: Cootes Paradise, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada (43°16’08”N, 79°54’31”W). Aquatic vegetation in a small, temporal pond close to the Ravine Trail (04/05/2009).

Known distribution. Widespread throughout the Palearctic: many localities in Europe, Western Russia, Central Asia, Siberia, the Russian Far East (see Luther 1955 for localities and references); Central Europe ( Germany: Schwleswig-Holstein, Thuringia, Franconia, Oberhessen and South Lower Saxony; Austria: Burgenland) ( Rixen 1961; Kraus 1965; Pörner 1966; Bauchhenss 1971; Schwank 1981; Heitkamp 1982), Eastern Europe ( Romania: floodplain of the Danube, littoral freshwater lakes of the Black Sea, Danube Delta) ( Mack-Fira 1968, 1970b), Western Russia (Urals, Northern Dvina River; upper Volga River; Yaroslavl Oblast) ( Rogozin 1996; Korgina 1999, 2002; Kotikova 2001), Siberia and the Russian Far East ( Rogozin 1996), the Middle East ( Israel) ( Noreña et al. 2008); Nearctic: Greenland ( Steinböck 1932); Afrotropic: West Africa ( Nigeria: Zaria) ( Mead & Kolasa 1984).

Material. Observations on a live animal and one whole mount from the new locality in Spain. Studies of live specimens from the other new localities and four whole mounts from Belgium.

Remarks. The sclerotized parts of the copulatory organ consist of five large spines of similar size with a length of 28–33 µm, which are not interconnected by a common base (“Aequales” group of the Gieysztoria - type in Luther 1955, see also Discussion of G. i b e r i c a n. sp.). Bundles of digitiform protuberances originating from each spine are clearly visible in the whole mount (arrows in Fig. 8 B). The spines with fibres combined measure around 48 µm. This type of stylet is only known from two species: Gieysztoria cuspidata ( Schmidt, 1861) Ruebush & Hayes, 1939 , a well-known ubiquitous species of various freshwater habitats in large parts of the (Western) Palearctic (see Luther 1955) and Gieysztoria isoldeae Artois et al., 2004 , a species found in ephemeral rock pools in Botswana (see Artois et al. 2004). However, the spines of G. isoldeae only amount to four and are much longer (120–160 µm) and more slender. One or possibly two spines of the specimens from Andalusia seem to be more curved than the others, a feature which has also been mentioned for other populations by Luther (1955). The length of the spines of specimens from other localities seems to be highly variable but ranges mostly between 16–29 µm (see e.g. Beklemischew 1921; Gieysztor 1926, 1931; Bauchhenss 1971; Noreña et al. 2008), making the spines of the specimen from Dehesa de Abajo among the largest found in this species [except for one specimen reported by Gieysztor (1931) from eastern Spain with spines up to 40 µm in length].

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.