Cheliplana terminalis Brunet, 1968

Diez, Yander L., Reygel, Patrick & Artois, Tom, 2019, Schizorhynchia (Platyhelminthes, Rhabdocoela) from eastern Cuba, with the description of fifteen new species, Zootaxa 4646 (1), pp. 1-30 : 3-4

Cheliplana terminalis Brunet, 1968

( Fig. 1 )

Known distribution. Le Brusc, Marseilles, France ( Brunet 1968); Djezira, Mogadishu, Somalia ( Schockaert 1982); Tudor Creek, Mombasa, Kenya (Jouk & DeVocht 1989).

Material and distribution in Cuba. Observations on live animals, whole mounted afterwards. Eight whole mounts from Bahía de Santiago de Cuba (January 31, 2017) ( HU IX.4.43–IX.4.50), intertidal, superficial finegrained sand with organic matter, salinity 35 ‰. Three whole mounts from Chivirico (March 16, 2017) ( HU X.1.01– X.1.03), intertidal up to 0.5 m depth, medium-grained sand with organic matter, surrounded by a seagrass bed of Thalassia testudinum and Syringodium filiforme , with isolated trees of Rhizophora mangle , salinity 35 ‰.

Remarks. Our animals are 0.5–0.9 mm long (x = 0.7 mm, n = 6), measured on the whole mounts, translucent, pinkish coloured, without eyes. Proboscis hooks curved ( Fig. 1A : h), 11–17 µm long (x = 14 µm; n = 5); muscular hook supports ( Fig. 1A : ms) 7–8 µm long (x = 7 µm; n = 5). Prostate vesicle ( Fig. 1B : pv) elongated, 71–102 µm long (x = 87 µm; n = 2). Seminal vesicles ( Fig. 1B : sv) rounded to oval shaped. Cirrus ( Fig. 1B : ci) an unarmed and thin sclerotized tube, 200–293 µm long (x = 251 µm; n = 4); it ends in a more or less rectangular sclerotized cap ( Fig. 1B : sc), 9–12 µm long (x = 11 µm; n = 4) and 3–5 µm wide (x = 4 µm; n = 4).

Large bursa located caudally, bipartite, proximally with a well-defined vesicle filled with sperm. It opens externally through a coiled and ribbon shaped duct into the vagina, at the caudal end of the body.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Cheliplana terminalis. A, proboscis. B, copulatory bulb.