Chordodes ibembensis Sciacchitano, 1958

De Villalobos, Cristina, Zanca, Fernanda & Schmidt‐Rhaesa, Andreas, 2007, Revision of the genus Chordodes (Gordiida, Nematomorpha) from Africa-III: ultrastructural redescription of Chordodes capensis Camerano, 1895, C. clavatus Linstow, 1906, C. digitatus Linstow, 1901, C. tuberculatus Linstow, 1901, and reinterpretation of C. ibembensis Sciacchitano, 1958 and C. uncinatus Sciacchitano, 1958, Journal of Natural History 41 (45 - 48), pp. 2775-2788 : 2781

[ Chordodes ibembensis Sciacchitano, 1958 ]

( Figure 3C )

Chordodes ibembensis Sciacchitano 1958, p 39 , Figures 33, 34.

Material

Holotype: 1 „, Republic of the Congo, Province Uele , Ibembo (AMT 30093).

Material examined. Holotype, SEM from midbody.

Host

Mantis religiosa ( Sciacchitano 1958) .

Description

The specimen is 111 mm long, with diameter of 1 mm. Body colour is light brown. The anterior end narrows slightly towards apex and has a white calotte. The posterior end is undivided. The ventral longitudinal groove is evident.

The body cuticle has five types of areoles ( Figure 3C ). Simple areoles are low with varying shape and warty surface like a blackberry ( Figure 3C ). Clusters of two to five areoles (bulging areoles), with the same surface as simple areoles but taller. Rarely, there are isolated tubercle areoles. Two further types of areoles occur in clusters, circumcluster areoles that contain apically a tuft of bristles and surround two crowned areoles with a crown of filaments on top ( Figure 3C ).

Comments

In the original description, Sciacchitano (1958) described the cuticle of Chordodes ibembensis with three areolar types. This reinvestigation revealed five areolar types. Types 1, 2, and 3 from Sciacchitano (1958) correspond to simple, bulging, and circumcluster areoles, respectively, in the present investigation. By SEM it was revealed that simple and bulging areoles have a roughly structured surface, which was not observed by Sciacchitano (1958). Two more areole types may be added: the crowned areoles and tubercle areoles. No characteristics separate this species from Chordodes clavatus . Therefore, Chordodes ibembensis is regarded as a synonym of Chordodes clavatus .

Figures

Figure 3. (A, B) Chordodes clavatus, female, SEM: (A) general view of the body cuticle showing simple (1), bulging (2), crowned areoles with short filaments (4), and circumcluster areoles (5); (B) crowned areoles with long apical filaments (6) and thorn areole (7) from the ventral midline posterior end. (C) [Chordodes ibembensis], cuticle of the holotype showing simple (1), tubercle (2), bulging (3), crowned areoles (4), and circumcluster areoles (5). (D) [Chordodes uncinatus], cuticle with the same types of areoles as [Chordodes ibembensis]. Scale bars: 20 mm (A); 50 mm (B); 10 mm (C, D).